Fighting Games Weekly | June 18-24

Damn, even Infrit has a Vergil team now?

Trolling aside, honestly speaking here;

When I said I didn't think Wolvie was good in Vanilla, it was week 1 and I had no idea about half of the things in the game. I was very ignorant. Also, when I said Ryu was bad in vanilla, it was also very early.

That said, looking back, I think Ryu was bottom 3 in vanilla. That character had serious problems and Im super shocked Chris G was able to win with him for so long without damage or ground mobility. In Ultimate, however, Ryu is a monster. They fixed his ground dash, gave him serious damage off easy confirms, and they nerfed akuma's assist and health (which help even the two out). There are legitimate reasons to put Ryu on your team now, even though I'd still give the edge to Akuma thanks mostly to his projectile eating tatsu and easy solo combos from throws.
Heh, this is more in line with my views now. :P

Don't forget to check out the UMvC3 official thread if you haven't already.

Also, Dr. Doom for DiveKick 2: FootDive plz.
 
Damn, even Infrit has a Vergil team now?
The more Vergils there are, the happier I'll be come patch time. Let's get some more Zero players out there! Zero to win Evo, yeah!

Heh, this is more in line with my views now. :P

Don't forget to check out the UMvC3 official thread if you haven't already.

Also, Dr. Doom for DiveKick 2: FootDive plz.
Wolverine was easy to bring over because you could play off the name, but it'd be hard to do Doom without IP problems.
 
I think his only chance at EVO is to pick up a team like that and try to ride it to the end. People know his other teams too well now and other people do the characters better.

Don't quite see how Cap/Spencer/West is better than his old team..... She Hulk is underrated in UMvC3 and is a irreplaceable part of Combofiend's plans. I do kind of wish he replaced Task with Doom, IMHO missiles suit his Spencer and She Hulk gameplan a lot more than Task arrows does and he was looking more dangerous with missiles back at Season's Beatings Summer Slam, except his Doom wasn't up to scratch. If he had a Doom as good as F Champ's he'll be much stronger than he is now.
 
Don't quite see how Cap/Spencer/West is better than his old team..... She Hulk is underrated in UMvC3 and is a irreplaceable part of Combofiend's plans. I do kind of wish he replaced Task with Doom, IMHO missiles suit his Spencer and She Hulk gameplan a lot more than Task arrows does and he was looking more dangerous with missiles back at Season's Beatings Summer Slam, except his Doom wasn't up to scratch. If he had a Doom as good as F Champ's he'll be much stronger than he is now.

Taskmaster protects the horizontal plane
 
wonder why combofiend hasn't tried point haggar. i know he had a team in vanilla with haggar on it but haggar was only there for the assist.
 
Wolverine was easy to bring over because you could play off the name, but it'd be hard to do Doom without IP problems.
You know the old saying, where there's a Doom, there's a Doombot!

Also, Combo up now playing his Vanilla team again. The last few sets with Killer Kai and all those other dudes have been great. Clockw0rk has really stepped up his game and it shows in all three of his characters.

wonder why combofiend hasn't tried point haggar. i know he had a team in vanilla with haggar on it but haggar was only there for the assist.
You know what, Combo plus Haggar sounds like a deadly combination. I'd love to see him use a Haggar team.
 
Watching Clockwork's Amaterasu & Strider play was just what I needed tonight. I learned so much already, give me more more more! >:)
 
Akuma is still better than Ryu because he is more "Marvel".

By that I mean in this game you have to be able to convert solid damage from air to air hit confirms and air throws which Akuma can do much better than Ryu. Ryu has better normals, a better beam, more health, a better invincible hyper, more damage and a more invincible reversal. Akuma has better mix ups, a fireball he can aim downwards which is a more useful angle, has more air mobility, can combo off of air throws, has a Tatsu that goes through projectiles and dive kicks.
 
Oh hi GAF here are some random Evo predictions/recommendations

I'm just going to repeat what I said on Twitter: Kaoru (SBO champ) should be the favorite to win KOF at Evo but nobody knows him because he hasn't been on a stream, and I think Chou has a real shot at winning Marvel. You've seen how successful OMG Itz Andre has been with all his slop, and Chou plays much cleaner and uses a stronger order for that team. Point Wesker gets to do the EZmode teleport mixups w/ Mag assist, Mag gets an assist that's not useless in the neutral game, and Vergil anchor is Vergil anchor; I don't see much upside to Andre's order.

Abegen is the most interesting player to me. I could see him getting top 8 or not making it out of pools thanks to his team being helpless in a number of matchups. I don't think he gets past Chris G, but he's proven he can beat Morrigan players a level below him. JEO hasn't impressed me honestly, he seems to drop a lot more stuff than Chris does. Mamespider is also intriguing but Brightside may have gotten America wise to that character. I really wish that Deadpool player who won KVO could've made it, as much as Kusoru actually. I forget who else is coming.

Oh yeah, and I really really hope they can get Abegen and Kazunoko for the Guilty Gear side tournament. Abegen was second only to FAB among Potemkin players, since before Accent Core. Kazunoko was probably top 5 in the world at AC, alternately playing Order Sol and Testament under the name Inoue. Not sure of any other top JP heads in this game who are coming, RF maybe?

Something more off the beaten path: watch out for the UK crew in Mortal Kombat! They all have silly usernames but are some of the best around IMO, and this is their first time on American soil. I'm not 100% on this but I believe we have the following: A F0xy Grampa (the man who broke open Cage & Sonya and was the pretty much the first to say they were top-tier, which is the consensus opinion now), UsedForGlue (the only remaining Cyber-Sub player though I think he has another tourney character now, Kung Lao maybe), and Ketchup & Mustard (brothers who play Cyrax & Sektor oho~). MK otherwise seems to be falling into a Kabal/Kenshi rut, and it's lost a good number of players over this year. Top 8 could be awesome like last year or it could be zzzzzz depending on the character makeup.

I wish I had under-the-radar recommendations for Soul Calibur, but that community seems to be in decline even though they finally got a good game. If Omega(DR) is coming then he's a must-watch - one of the smartest players I have ever seen in any game, won SC3 Nationals and took 5th in SC4 at Evo with one of the absolute worst characters. Strong Yoshimitsu players like Lolo and Neorussell are also worth checking out, I think he's one of the coolest 3D FG characters when played well.

All I'll say regarding the SF games is that there's a chance we could have no Americans in the top 8 for SF4. It depends on how many of the Japanese arcade grinders in that game are coming, I think.
 
wonder why combofiend hasn't tried point haggar. i know he had a team in vanilla with haggar on it but haggar was only there for the assist.

I think he loves characters which are tricky and can open people up easily even without a long list of tools. That's why he loves She Hulk and Spencer. Someone like Haggar which demands patience and complete faith in the pipe probably doesn't suit him.
 
These are some fantastic matches on the Comboratory stream. High level stuff. Infrit has been going in especially. So many grown ass man moments. My favourite: Get happy birthday -> get hit with hidden missiles -> complete happy birthday anyways. NOVA DONT GIVE A FUCK

I think he loves characters which are tricky and can open people up easily even without a long list of tools. That's why he loves She Hulk and Spencer. Someone like Haggar which demands patience and complete faith in the pipe probably doesn't suit him.
I think Haggar kind of fits the exact description you have for Combo's play. And it isn't just the pipe, he's got other tools, command grabs, Lariat, etc. Few, but effective when in the right hands.
 
I wish I had under-the-radar recommendations for Soul Calibur, but that community seems to be in decline even though they finally got a good game. If Omega(DR) is coming then he's a must-watch - one of the smartest players I have ever seen in any game, won SC3 Nationals and took 5th in SC4 at Evo with one of the absolute worst characters. Strong Yoshimitsu players like Lolo and Neorussell are also worth checking out, I think he's one of the coolest 3D FG characters when played well.
He was complaining on twitter that he wasn't paid yet for his win at the World Tournament. He was going to use that money to go Evo. I don't know what's the situation now.

Welcome Keits and Josh. Need more poverty games to stream.
 
I think Chou has a real shot at winning Marvel. You've seen how successful OMG Itz Andre has been with all his slop, and Chou plays much cleaner and uses a stronger order for that team. Point Wesker gets to do the EZmode teleport mixups w/ Mag assist, Mag gets an assist that's not useless in the neutral game, and Vergil anchor is Vergil anchor; I don't see much upside to Andre's order.

Abegen is the most interesting player to me. I could see him getting top 8 or not making it out of pools thanks to his team being helpless in a number of matchups. I don't think he gets past Chris G, but he's proven he can beat Morrigan players a level below him. JEO hasn't impressed me honestly, he seems to drop a lot more stuff than Chris does. Mamespider is also intriguing but Brightside may have gotten America wise to that character. I really wish that Deadpool player who won KVO could've made it, as much as Kusoru actually. I forget who else is coming.

All I'll say regarding the SF games is that there's a chance we could have no Americans in the top 8 for SF4. It depends on how many of the Japanese arcade grinders in that game are coming, I think. I don't think
This should've been labelled as "Japanese EVO impressions" because it only discusses Japanese players.

Chou is the best shot from Japan at EVO in Marvel but he is still beatable even in Japan he has been beat. He plays a top tier team for sure but people are going to be more aware of that match up. Abegen actually destroys people in the pools 2 out of 3 structure so I expect him to at least make it out of pools. The rest of the Japanese players would struggle to make top 8, these guys have the credentials but it's very hard to say if they can make it especially Abegen fighting through all the Zeros and Vergils. This is still America's game and Japan still needs to prove themselves at the big stage of EVO.

Kubo is coming too, the X-23 player and Udaterasu I believe too. Daigo, Tokido, Mago and Momochi are registered for Marvel apparently.

No Americans in top 8 for SF4? Surely you jest. The American scene has leveled up greatly since last year and they have a legit shot at the title. Get ready for the Rufus duo.
 
All I'll say regarding the SF games is that there's a chance we could have no Americans in the top 8 for SF4. It depends on how many of the Japanese arcade grinders in that game are coming, I think.

nah bro didn't you watch ceo bro justin wong is gonna bro body all of those japanese free bro.

Well, regardless of who makes it to top 8, I can't wait for AE at Evo. I won't pretend to know the relative skills of every player as I am not good at fighting games, but I always enjoy watching the Japanese players in their own tournaments in Japan. Watching them play here with the best players in the US should be a lot of fun. I hope jet lag or console lag or whatever aren't an issue.
 
Oh yeah I heard about that, shame that may keep him from going.

Apparently Kim1234 was looking for help for his trip and couldn't get anything solid so he's out too. I saw Air saying he was going to team with him in SFxT and he might just skip that game altogether now. Jebailey was asking him about teaming so maybe he'll run with that for the hell of it lol
 
You think WATCHING it is fun. Jesus Christ (no offense Keits), but I was like, cooooool when I was watching it at UFGT, but after you've played it and seen people get mad salty over it... that's when I truly started to fiend for it T.T

DIVEKICK is saving eSports.

Seeing Ultradavid getting ultra salty about it while trolling Floe and the fraud detection was a sight to behold LOL.

Every fighting game needs some kind of fraud detection now imo
 
This should've been labelled as "Japanese EVO impressions" because it only discusses Japanese players.

You missed the MK stuff. Does this forum think that game doesn't exist too? Really my goal was just to highlight people the stream monsters don't know about, and those are going to be mostly outside the US.

re: JP Marvel, my thinking is that MvC3 has a lot of "anime game" elements that MvC2 didn't. The most notable examples are airthrows as a universal anti-air (MvC2's could be broken on reaction), anti-air jabs that lead to full combos, and the ability to confirm all kinds of random hits into full combos (which in MvC2 would have gotten you 2 or 3 hits). These are areas in which the Japanese have historically been much stronger than us, so this game plays much more to their strengths. I will say that Japan doesn't have a Zero on Flocker's level or a Morrigan as strong as Chris G's or a Dormammu as cheap as Champ's, but some of the crew coming to Evo are the best or among the best with the characters they do play. It's silly to act like they aren't in the discussion at all, which many people are doing.

No Americans in top 8 for SF4? Surely you jest. The American scene has leveled up greatly since last year and they have a legit shot at the title. Get ready for the Rufus duo.

I don't really agree with this but it's hard to understand if most of your knowledge comes from streams. Interest in SF4 from top players has dropped off compared to past years (witness people like F.Champ and Combofiend). I would also say that the Japanese players who have entered our majors thus far have been the more "Hollywood" ones - guys writing a book like Daigo or hosting a show like Mago. The dudes who don't have any extracurricular activities are the ones I'd be scared of. I will say that Justin's win over Momochi amazed me, but I really want to see if America can handle someone like Banbaban. Or Dakou...I like his Ryu over Daigo's at this point.

If you watch that first SBO qualifier (the one Uryo won) it's like they're playing a completely different game from us. It was mostly characters that actually play Street Fighter winning, with very little Viper/Seth (to be fair, the US started doing a lot better against those characters since then). More importantly than that, they're a lot more aggressive than us in certain situations and make what might be player-specific reads. Uryo won not 1 but 2 rounds with wakeup close HP...not the opponent's wakeup but right as Sakura got up. I can't think of almost anyone good in the US who would think of trying that in a tournament. Basically, Justin and Ricky are winning by being Justin & Ricky, while the Japanese seem to be taking the game closer to its full potential. Both approaches have worked for sure, which is why I didn't say my prediction was a guarantee...just a possibility that few seem to acknowledge.
 
You missed the MK stuff. Does this forum think that game doesn't exist too? Really my goal was just to highlight people the stream monsters don't know about, and those are going to be mostly outside the US.

re: JP Marvel, my thinking is that MvC3 has a lot of "anime game" elements that MvC2 didn't. The most notable examples are airthrows as a universal anti-air (MvC2's could be broken on reaction), anti-air jabs that lead to full combos, and the ability to confirm all kinds of random hits into full combos (which in MvC2 would have gotten you 2 or 3 hits). These are areas in which the Japanese have historically been much stronger than us, so this game plays much more to their strengths. I will say that Japan doesn't have a Zero on Flocker's level or a Morrigan as strong as Chris G's or a Dormammu as cheap as Champ's, but the crew coming to Evo are the best or among the best with the characters they do play. It's silly to act like they aren't in the discussion at all, which many people are doing.

Spinking and Frieda.
 
No Americans in top 8 for SF4? Surely you jest. The American scene has leveled up greatly since last year and they have a legit shot at the title. Get ready for the Rufus duo.

Justin got 9th at Shadowloo Showdown. He did better than I expected.

Not sure if there will be more or less international players at EVO, but not having an American in top 8 is a very real possibility depending on how things work out. Not that they are inherently worse, just that there are now so many killers across so many different characters around the world.
 
Justin got 9th at Shadowloo Showdown. He did better than I expected.

Not sure if there will be more or less international players at EVO, but not having an American in top 8 is a very real possibility depending on how things work out. Not that they are inherently worse, just that there are now so many killers across so many different characters around the world.

I think America will do very well at SFIV this year at Evo. I have a filling 4/8 players in top 8 will be Americans.
 
Call Spooby has now spread into the SCGLive MTG feed. :)

It's everywhere now. "SPOOBY PLS BibleThump" and "PLS MOVE DIEMINION" everywhere when any stream goes down now. We're spreading. :P

Justin got 9th at Shadowloo Showdown. He did better than I expected.

Not sure if there will be more or less international players at EVO, but not having an American in top 8 is a very real possibility depending on how things work out. Not that they are inherently worse, just that there are now so many killers across so many different characters around the world.

I think a ton of international killers would have to show up for me to think there's a chance an American will not make top 8. Top 8 could get really boring from a hype perspective if at least a couple Americans don't make it. The crowd just wouldn't be as interested and that'd really be a shame for our biggest tournament of the year.
 
I think America will do very well at SFIV this year at Evo. I have a filling 4/8 players in top 8 will be Americans.

Could do but which 4?

Ricky and Justin obviously. But what if they meet say Gamerbee in top 32, a Japanese Sagat or even someone like Vangief? Not so easy for Rufus.

Who else are you backing?

I think a ton of international killers would have to show up for me not to think an American will make top 8. Top 8 could get really boring from a hype perspective if at least a couple Americans don't make it. The crowd just wouldn't be as interested and that'd really be a shame for our biggest tournament of the year.

I agree, having a couple in there until at least top 4 will be best all around, especially with some big upsets.
 
nah bro didn't you watch ceo bro justin wong is gonna bro body all of those japanese free bro.

Well, regardless of who makes it to top 8, I can't wait for AE at Evo. I won't pretend to know the relative skills of every player as I am not good at fighting games, but I always enjoy watching the Japanese players in their own tournaments in Japan. Watching them play here with the best players in the US should be a lot of fun. I hope jet lag or console lag or whatever aren't an issue.

I'd say it still depends a lot on the draw. Justin seems fairly capable of beating the current Daigo and probably any Cammy players, but Tokido still holds a pretty good record on him. PR Rog can beat Tokido, but loses to Momochi.
 
I'd say it still depends a lot on the draw. Justin seems fairly capable of beating the current Daigo and probably any Cammy players, but Tokido still holds a pretty good record on him. PR Rog can beat Tokido, but loses to Momochi.
I actually agree with Funkdoc that players like Daigo aren't as scary as players like the Chinese (Xiaohai and Dakou), Sako or Uryo (I forget which one is coming), and some of the other Japanese/International players (Banbaban, Michael-tan, Kyabetsu, Xian, the other Taiwanese players... I don't remember who's coming and who isn't coming) that don't appear as often in the US that people should be looking out for.

Well, we'll see when Evo comes. I definitely agree that it depends on the draw and players like Justin could make it. I don't know if I'd like it too much considering they split their attention between SF4 and Marvel, and it feels like they put a lot of their attention on Marvel, but that's just my personal opinion.
 
I don't really agree with this but it's hard to understand if most of your knowledge comes from streams. Interest in SF4 from top players has dropped off compared to past years (witness people like F.Champ and Combofiend). I would also say that the Japanese players who have entered our majors thus far have been the more "Hollywood" ones - guys writing a book like Daigo or hosting a show like Mago. The dudes who don't have any extracurricular activities are the ones I'd be scared of. I will say that Justin's win over Momochi amazed me, but I really want to see if America can handle someone like Banbaban. Or Dakou...I like his Ryu over Daigo's at this point.
.

Anyone know where that bboy guy is when you need him?

Also you should check out the Marvel thread. You can theory fight fight with Dahbomb and God's Beard all day.
 
Could do but which 4?

Ricky and Justin obviously. But what if they meet say Gamerbee in top 32, a Japanese Sagat or even someone like Vangief? Not so easy for Rufus.

Who else are you backing?

PR Balrog, Sanford, and Wolfkrone are definitely up there. I really hope Mike Ross makes it though just to see the room blow up when he's on stage.
 
I will say that Justin's win over Momochi amazed me, but I really want to see if America can handle someone like Banbaban. Or Dakou...I like his Ryu over Daigo's at this point.

If a Ryu comes within sniffing distance of EVO top 8, I will be not only surprised but shocked. Game seems like it's about who can best build and burn bar for the maximum amount of safe ambiguous mixups easily convertible into big damage, and that doesn't really describe Ryu, a character who looks like he walked into the wrong game. If anything, though, I'd be happy if some interesting Japanese play caused me to reassess--what looks like the new 'right' way to play AE bums me out, since that type of play doesn't interest me (and I couldn't do it very well if it did).
 
It's a pretty slim shot for the US to take AE this year, especially if there is more internationals than last year's.

Ricky does have a strong chance of making it to top 8, the rest, not so much.
 
If a Ryu comes within sniffing distance of EVO top 8, I will be not only surprised but shocked. Game seems like it's about who can best build and burn bar for the maximum amount of safe ambiguous mixups easily convertible into big damage, and that doesn't really describe Ryu, a character who looks like he walked into the wrong game. If anything, though, I'd be happy if some interesting Japanese play caused me to reassess--what looks like the new 'right' way to play AE bums me out, since that type of play doesn't interest me (and I couldn't do it very well if it did).

Well, he kinda addressed that too:

If you watch that first SBO qualifier (the one Uryo won) it's like they're playing a completely different game from us. It was mostly characters that actually play Street Fighter winning, with very little Viper/Seth (to be fair, the US started doing a lot better against those characters since then).
 
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