EPTHello fellow gamers. I thought some of you might be interested in the fun we have over here, and I can't think of a better place to share it. This is the 4th SF2T tourny we've held at my house. Years ago it was my just roommate and I who played against each other, but over time our friends started picking it up as well (even the girls we hang out with).
THE FIRST TOURNAMENT
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Originally I set up the first tournament with a $100 prize for the winner out of my own pocket because I was confident nobody would beat me, and I was trying to increase the player pool we had while we are all sitting around drinking and smoking. Basically I got bored of my roommate (Ben) being the only one who could beat me and was hoping $100 was enough incentive for friends to tell friends that they knew who were good at Street Fighter. We only got one new group of players to that tournament, and one of them was pretty good, but unfortunately he met Ben in the first rounds and got knocked out. I met Ben in the finals and lost, but I didn't give that fucker the $100 lol.
My Friends' Montage and My Love for eSports
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That tournament got my little group of friends pretty excited about the game again, and suddenly every night of hanging out turned into fierce street fighter training. One day when everyone was there somebody asked Ben to rank everyone by skill (Ben is well known around here to be unbeatable and has played the longest so he's like the sage). I interjected and proposed we hold a friendly tournament to determine our ranks. This was a couple years ago, at which time I was getting really into pro Korean BW, so I had a lot of ideas of ways to organize the competition, but our group is small so there's not much we could do. Nevertheless I tried to put some rules and structure to the tournament, such as boX, time limit or not, character choosing throughout the tourny, and also that the winner from here on out would determine the rules for the next tournament. I ended up beating Ben in the placement tournament, and I had ambitions to do something epic...
SJCSL
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San Jose California Starleague!!! I pretty much jacked the MSL tournament format and used the previous tournament to determine the seeds so we could do a fun group selection thing before the tourny began. We had ro32 group stages, bo3 ro16, bo5 ro8, bo5 semis, and bo7 finals, with some limitations on character changes (basically if you were to change from your previous character you both had to go double-blind so there wouldn't be any bitching about "you picked this char cuz I'm this char"). Now all I had to do is get 32 people for a tournament...
Well everyone that wasn't in the previous tournament bitched about the seeding so we just drew groups out of a hat. This was a super fun tourny and my friends in training all did superb. This would also serve as a way for our friends to compare their skills to other people than their "practice partners" that they play with every day, which would in turn boost their confidence and drive to compete more ^_^. This was really the tournament I wanted to film and make a video out of it because we had the most players and an interesting format, but wasn't able to organize swiftly enough.
Well, as the luck-of-the-draw brackets would have it, I faced Ben in the finals and got completely roflstomped. He beat me 4-1 and even gave me a couple favorable match-ups (my Dhalsim vs Ken is really strong and he still won, he chose Blanka vs my E.Honda which is supposedly favored toward me. I gave him a mirror matchup in return which he always destroys me at..)
Well everyone that wasn't in the previous tournament bitched about the seeding so we just drew groups out of a hat. This was a super fun tourny and my friends in training all did superb. This would also serve as a way for our friends to compare their skills to other people than their "practice partners" that they play with every day, which would in turn boost their confidence and drive to compete more ^_^. This was really the tournament I wanted to film and make a video out of it because we had the most players and an interesting format, but wasn't able to organize swiftly enough.
Well, as the luck-of-the-draw brackets would have it, I faced Ben in the finals and got completely roflstomped. He beat me 4-1 and even gave me a couple favorable match-ups (my Dhalsim vs Ken is really strong and he still won, he chose Blanka vs my E.Honda which is supposedly favored toward me. I gave him a mirror matchup in return which he always destroys me at..)
Recent Tourny
It took some convincing to get Ben to not do bo1 for the next tourny. I got him to agree to to bo3 at least, but with no character changing. He doesn't like all the variables I suppose >_<.
A little bit about the contestants:
Alyssa - Played for about 2 years and hasn't ventured away from Ryu yet. Her attacks and kick timing are really good, though her specials and blocking need some work. She struggles under pressure, but if you're not able to block as well as you attack she will probably beat you. Once she can aggressively incorporate throws to her jump/sweep kick strategy her play style will look very similar to Ben's, which is a scary thing. She got 4th out of 32 in the big tournament, placing below only Ben, me, and my personal padawon.
Ben - The one to beat. Though he will always be humble and tell people I am superior, nobody will ever agree with him because nobody else has ever beaten him (and I lose quite frequently to others). If he chooses Ken, Blanka, Vega, and Guile you can expect to lose. His ruthless combos and no pity corner throws leave most people helpless. Strangely, Ben sucks at specials, but it's well known that he doesn't need them.
Carly - The noncompetitive one. We needed someone to fill a spot in the tournament so she did. Not that she doesn't know how to play, she just never does. With some practice she'd be just as good as anyone.
Dustin - Yours truly. I like to push the limits of the game and figure out new strategies. I gave up winning for a whole year to try to learn how to play Dhalsim, etc. I'm good at specials and can fight well with my back against the wall (due to playing Ben so much). Really being able to dragon punch the very frame while standing up is the only thing I have over Ben since his timing/placement is perfect. Perhaps someone else should write this section about me lol
Mark - The wildcard. Utilizes Ryu's spin kick like nobody I've ever seen. Though, whether a hasty decision, or lagging in thought, Mark's timing is so odd and offbeat that he's very hard to predict. Some people would think without a dragon punch Ryu would be an easy fight, but Mark's barrage of fireballs and spin kicks can be deadly!
Max - Trained in the ways of Blanka by Ben. Max is one of the few that will switch up his character, but his Blanka is dangerous as fuck. Once he gets you at the right distance he can electricity to up-barrel roll and land behind you while doing electricity, repeat. Blocking the barrel roll when he hits you from behind is really difficult. Max is one of the best at specials, but puts a little too much emphasis on them and forgets that blocking and timing are more important.
Shaun - The potty mouth you will hear in the video. Give him a break, he recently got back from his second deployment in Iraq. He plays a mean Guile.. He can bust flash kicks while standing up and pelt you with sonic boom combos while you're in the corner. His ability to improvise would be his weak point, in that if put in an unfamiliar situation he has trouble getting out of it.
Yong - The newcomer. Didn't have any clue during this tournament, but he is a very well-rounded player. There isn't anything he can't do with Ryu. A Korean guy, what else should have I expected?
Apologies for the terrible editing of audio and video. This was my first attempt to do any sort of thing since I couldn't convince my sister to do it for me. I made all the inserts in paint and just cropped my friends' faces out of pics I had. So, without further delay, here's the recent tournament:
Pt. 1
Pt. 2
Poll: Best Fight?
Ryu vs Ryu (1)
33%
Guile vs Blanka (1)
33%
Vega vs M.Bison (1)
33%
Ryu vs Chun Li (0)
0%
Ryu vs M.Bison (0)
0%
Blanka vs Ryu (0)
0%
3 total votes
Guile vs Blanka (1)
Vega vs M.Bison (1)
Ryu vs Chun Li (0)
Ryu vs M.Bison (0)
Blanka vs Ryu (0)
3 total votes
Your vote: Best Fight?
(Vote): Ryu vs Chun Li
(Vote): Ryu vs Ryu
(Vote): Ryu vs M.Bison
(Vote): Guile vs Blanka
(Vote): Blanka vs Ryu
(Vote): Vega vs M.Bison
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Actually what happened is the camera's SD card got full RIGHT at that moment rofl. I tried to implore everyone to let me get another and set the camera up, but they were all like drunk fanatics clamoring for blood at an arena in Rome and would not wait. Hopefully they will regret that as much as I do after this video ends in its anti-climatic fashion.
To give you an idea of what happened in the finals, I let off of him a couple times in the corner to give a better showing, he landed a couple nice dragon punches, I underestimated him and he won with about 400 vitality. Still waiting for Yong to lay down the rules for the next tourny so I can fucking destroy him this time :D
To give you an idea of what happened in the finals, I let off of him a couple times in the corner to give a better showing, he landed a couple nice dragon punches, I underestimated him and he won with about 400 vitality. Still waiting for Yong to lay down the rules for the next tourny so I can fucking destroy him this time :D
Thanks for your time, and if anyone is in the bay area and wants to play SF2T drop me a note ^_^
