Category Archives: Winnipeg Mixup

Alright with evo coming up this weekend.  I decided to interview the players going.  The guys going are Steffan Fields(srf3po), Tyler Sanderson (Kang), James Kim(Korea), Shane Fleury(ShinAkuma).  Enough of the intro here’s the interview

What games are you entering(Official or not)?

Tyler: My original plan was not to enter anything.  I felt there was more than enough to do in the way of seeing hyped matches, hanging with friends, meeting the pros and of course, Vegas.  Then I went from entering no tournaments to entering all these tournaments in order:

Street Fighter 4.  Because I’d be an idiot to go all the way to Evo and not at least play SF4.  Soul Calibur 4.  I’m seemingly regarded as one of the main 3d fighters here so I had to represent the genre. Plus I still find the game fun.  3v3 Super Turbo.  When I saw that CigarBob was returning, I decided I wanted to enter his tournament to get the chance to play (and get wrecked) by the SF legends in what would be considered ST in it’s truest form.  Also team tournaments are fun.  Blazblue.  This is the the tournament where I think I’ll get destroyed the hardest but I’m loving the game too much right now to ignore it.  Blazblue 3v3.  Team tournaments are fun.  Tekken 6.  As much as I’m looking forward to T6, the only reason I’ll really be entering this is because it’s free.  I’d much rather learn the game first and just watch the top players go at it but we’ll see how I’m feeling at the time.

Steffan: Street Fighter 4, STHD Remix, Soul Calibur, Blazblue 3v3.

James: I’m entering SFIV, 2v2 3S with Norman from Regina, and 3v3 ST Vanilla with Shane and Tyler.

Shane: SF4, HDR and ST teams.

Whats your goal at evo?

Tyler: Being a generally modest player, I have no plans to do amazing at Evo.  I know that I’m not at a high level and I know how good people can possibly be at these games.  Mainly my plan is to perform as well as I can and only lose the matches I deserved to lose.  That and to overall soak up all the excitement from being at Evo.  But again, Evo to me is mainly going to be a vacation as opposed to a competition.  TST will be my competition.  But don’t worry.  I always try my hardest in every fight and always attempt to win them all.

Steffan: Take each match one at a time and see if I can make it out of pools.  Meet and play some top players, may not be possible but will try to anyway.  Just enjoy the scene, we have 4 good players going and I hope we can represent well.

James: Not go to go 2 and out, and to also promote the Winnipeg scene to fellow Canadians and Americans alike.

Shane: To win SF4. However that will be a tough goal, so my secondary is to do well enough that Winnipeg gets back on the fighting game map for having great players.

What are you looking forward to most?

Tyler: As a player, considering I’m currently on the Blazblue craze, I’m looking forward to the 3v3 for that the most.  As a spectator, I’m looking forward to seeing SF4 regionals.  I absolutely love grudge matches and I simply cannot wait to see SoCal vs East Coast.

Steffan: Playing in SF4. Since it is going to be the first ever EVO tourney to have SF4, it is going to be interesting. The first EVO champion in this game will be crowned, and I have the opportunity to participate. If I was not going to be excited, I would be surprised.

James: It’s Vegas! There are a shit ton of things to look forward to. The biggest would be the tournament finals on Sunday. Also just seeing all the people from around the world just come together to the biggest competition in Fighting Game history. I’d like to see Choi and Valle play in person as I believe they are awesome to watch. Some of the new generation players such as Combofiend and Ed Ma would be cool to watch as well.

Shane: SF4. This may be the biggest tourney ever for any fighter.

What else are you looking forward to?

Tyler: For the SF4 finals, I most want to see Daigo and John Choi hopefully beating Justin Wong, the inevitable fights between Daigo, Alex Valle and John Choi and to see Mago serve EVERYONE a demoralizing piece of humble pie.  I’m also excited to see how well Shane performs.  Especially against anyone with a name.  I wouldn’t mind seeing the Tekken and Blazblue finals as well.  I don’t remember if the rumour about Tomo going to Evo is still true but if it is, I’d honestly want to get his autograph and see him play a Hyper Fighting match.

Steffan: Probably Tekken 6. It would be an opportunity to play one of the games that has not come out yet. If I get a chance to play in the tourney, I wil. May drop a tourney to play in it.

James: I’d say sightseeing would be a pretty big thing, and just chillaxing with the other Canadian Fighting Gamers such as the GTASF, Regina, Ottawa, Alberta.

Shane: Playing Japanese and American legends.

How are you going about practicing?

Tyler: Well I’m going through a crash course with Blazblue.  I’m attempting to learn as many of the combos and get used to the flow of the game as quickly as possible along with hopefully learning a couple tricks in the matchups.

My SFIV is mostly sticking with the games at our gatherings.  The main things I can see myself wanting to learn at the moment are srk xx FADC Ultra and the Daigo combo after a lvl2 FA and I’m doubtful I’ll get either of those down pat before Evo.  I also think I’m nearing my glass ceiling with the game (and no, I’m not quitting and still plan on learning) so I’m not doing too much more with SFIV before Evo.

SC4 I’m pretty much going cold turkey outside of the one or two sessions I’ll do with Jason and Steffan before Evo and ST will be cold turkey too.

I’m personally not too concerned about my performance at Evo.  I’m mainly going for the experience.  This I believe might benefit me in the long run though because I know that if I’m too concerned, I will most certainly choke.  But again, Evo to me is mainly going to be a vacation as opposed to a competition.  TST will be my competition.

Steffan: I have been working on my combos and spacing in training mode for SF4. Since Honda will be my main, I have to make sure my defense is top notch. Playing with all the guys in the community helps with that too. Shout out to BMike for  helping me out with that one lol.

Shane: Playing offline and on like everyday.

Do you expect to level up significantly while there?  To the point that you’ll dominate tst.

Tyler: Haha.  Dominating at TST is likely not happening unless my Jin execution suddenly becomes godlike or Jason suddenly becomes terrible at SC4.  I might learn a few tricks in each of the games I’m entering but it’s hard to say and it’ll depend on who I’m facing.  I don’t learn too much from getting completely slaughtered.  Out of all the games, I think I’ll probably end up learning the most from BB and SC4 because the former is still so new to me and the latter I played so little of.  I definitely will attempt to get some games in with as many of the good players as possible just to get the feeling of playing with people that refuse to let you make a single mistake and realize what I should really be doing.

Steffan: That has yet to be seen. I can say that I will probably learn quite a bit from watching and playing against some of the best competition in the world. But to say that I would level up and dominate TST? Well that is getting a bit ahead of myself. There is only one constant that will remain before and after the trip: I will still own Duong at Tekken.

James: I expect to learn a lot from Evo, but will it help me dominate TST? There really is no way in telling. Since Shane is going, it’s hard to say if I can beat a guy who’s got way more experience then I do in terms of picking things up and incorporating them into my game. Not that I haven’t gotten better, but it usually takes me a bit of time to get used to it. So I’ll say a safe “no” to me dominating TST IV.

Shane: Not really. I think I’m close to the top level in North America, so I may level up but I don’t see it as huge.
I would like to regain my ST skills though. I was going to dominate TST anyway.

I’d like everyone to join me in wishing the boys luck at evo.  Good luck boys rep us well.  PUT WINNIPEG ON THE MAP

Yeah I know it’s been awhile. I’ve been somewhat busy but mostly lazy. I did an interview with Jerome, he’s a relative newcomer to the scene and is someone who pretty much came out of nowhere to place really well at TST3 in 3rd Strike finishing 2nd with Norman in teams and tying for 5th in singles. He also placed 3rd at the SF4 Launch Tournament. He’s been doing a lot of practicing since. Without further ado, here is the interview:

Name: Jerome Fulgencio

Handle: AznDestiny

Which games do you play?

Jerome: I play Street Fighter IV, Super Turbo and 3rd strike. I have tried a lot of other games like Melty Blood, Arcana Heart, Guilty Gear and the Alpha series.

How did you get into fighting games?

Jerome: I grew up in the states and lived near a lot of arcades where my uncle would take me almost every weekend

What was that like?

Jerome: It was really fun, I would play a lot of different games including some fighting games. And the arcades are always busy/ have people in them.

I’m too lazy to write a look at my favorite games of 2k8 so instead I’ll just say my favorite games last year were: The world ends with you, Portal(I played it in 2k8), STHD, Dead Space, fallout 3, Dragon Quest 4, Final Fantasy 4 and Warhawk. I didn’t play as much games as I would have liked to, and on that note leads me to my thoughts on 2k9 and my resolutions.

With the calendar flipping to a new year means we are that much closer to getting access to Street Fighter 4 on console. I think it should be really obvious to everyone that the game will be the main focus of our scene and probably the entire scene in general. Right now there are 6 potential events that will happen that should feature a fighting game of some sort. The first one should be the SF4 launch party. Which happens Feb 21. Details are here. That will be the first tournament, it’s more of a fun event and I believe it’ll be free entry. I’m really hoping we get a good turnout for this and will have a lot of new players who will stick around.

For the smash players there’s a lot to be excited about as well, as we will be hosting a tournament when top BC smasher Blunted_Object and his brother Noobking are in town. When it will be is to be determined sometime soon. I’m hoping it can run at the same time as the SF4 tournament as it would make things a lot easier. You smashers better up your game as I have high expectations of you guys, j/k, I hope you guys will be inspired by the results. I love the smash scene here and I hope this will make it even stronger. I posted this up on the Smashboards and I doubt many of you saw it or will see it on here but I’m willing to help you guys if you are willing to setup bi-weekly events to keep interest going. If enough people express interest and would come out it wouldn’t be a big deal to run this. I mean if Saskatchewan can do it I don’t see why you guys couldn’t as well.

There are a few more events that are pretty much expected now. After the launch tournament next one is Baselan most likely. This should be a big event as there are a lot of changes coming to the Baselan events. Should be very exciting and I hope you guys will come out and support this event as you normally do. This should be the first Street Fighter 4 tournament where people have had a few months to practice. Should be interesting to see who will come out on top. Of course other games will be featured at all the events we do, depending on when they come out and who’s interested.

Our yearly tradition of TST should happen again sometime around the sametime as last year. This being our local major and you guys should know the drill on it now. It should be bigger and better than last year. After this depending on how things work is comic con. This event will most likely feature SF4 as well but will be a bit different as to the other games that will happen. We haven’t discussed this one much but it should be the most interesting one event of the year. Baselan should follow sometime in early November and you know the drill on that. The events are always. The final one is the most important one of the year. Fight for the future will pretty much be a smaller version of TST with proceeds going to a charity.

Those are the events we’ve got planned so that’s a lot of events going on. We are planning to run Ranbats again this year for SF4, so look forward to that. As most of you know I’m getting married in 2010, so I may have a social. It’ll be a somewhat different social as if it does happen I’m running a tournament, cause I’m a nerd like that . I have no idea on when that will happen or if it will happen. There may be other things in there but those are the events that should happen. We are also doing some stuff with NoLAG and may do some other stuff with them. Should be interesting to see how that turns out.

Anyways off to my plans and resolutions for the year. I am planning on going to WCC2 and Evo this year. Depending on time and funds I may try hitting up T10 as well. So I’ve got a lot of tournaments and what not to prepare for. I’m hoping people are willing to gather more often this year. If more people are interested in coming out to the weekly gatherings at my place by all means come by. If too many come out and we need more space we will relocate to another location.

My new years resolutions are as follows:

1.) My yearly resolution that never works but I plan to get to 130lbs this year. I am currently at 115lbs. I need to get my ass out to the gym and eat properly.

2.) I plan on playing more games this year as I have not played much in the past few years due to my addiction of sitting on the computer desk doing pretty much nothing. Which leads to….

3.) Spending less time on the PC. I spend too much time on the computer being unproductive for the most part. I have a lot of games and other things I can be doing so I’ll be doing them…..hopefully.

That should be it for now. Again I hope we keep getting everyone’s support to keep the scene alive. We wouldn’t be doing this without you guys. So keep coming out and help us spread the word. As I’ve stated several times before, “THE MORE THE BETTER”. Thats it for now. Peace out.

-nYo-

Alright were closing in on the end of 2008 so its time to look back and reflect on the year.  The year has been very good to me personally and I will have very fond memories of this year.  Theres a lot to talk about so I guess I’ll break this look back into a few entries.  I’ll finish off this series of entries with a look into whats looking like an even better year in 2009.

Guess I’ll talk about the scene locally and overal.  Even though there has been a lot happening for fighters this year, I say its part 1 and things will be even more epic in 2009.  This year saw the release of Super Street Fighter 2: HDRemix(ST:HD for short), Blazblue, Tatsunoko vs Capcom to name a few.  Of course the year also contained the arcade release of Street Fighter 4.  I considered the game to be the holy grail and hopefully it will lead to a lot more players coming into the scene locally and overall.

The local tournament scene had its ups and downs.  With Korea leaving his post temporarily things got off to a slow start in February.  Kang and I did what we could to host a tournament mid February.  It had a good turnout for smash but due to circumstances out of my control that was all that we could run.  I always enjoy seeing you guys so keep coming out and supporting your scene and I’ll do everything I can do hold tournaments for you guys.  The day was miserable out so I’m glad a lot of you guys came out.  To the surprise of few Wilson won the event.  Him along with Russel and Janos, I consider to be the top players in the city.  Sorry Adam your so close to cracking in but you can never put it all together to finally win an event.

Anyways that was to be the last tournament where Melee was gonna be the main event for the smash scene as Brawls release was looming and the hype around the game was massive.  Its very unfortunate the game did not take off here as the two tournaments I ran for the game did fairly badly.  I’m aware of the reason why its not really well liked, however as a game for casuals I think its a lot of fun.  As a tournament game its terrible.  Too slow.  Even worse than CvS2 tournaments can be.  As the second half of the year came around Melee came back and is again one of the main games we run.  Seems theres even more interest in the game and folks watch out in 2009 as there should be good hype for you guys as were gonna do what we can to get your names out there.  Theres more to talk about for melee but that’ll come in the next few paragraphs.

The next event showed that the year really is a transition time for our scene and seemed like it may slowly die till the new games came out.  Baselan did not have very many players for 3s.  The event marked the first time we ran a brawl tournament as well.  Even though there was a conflicting event in PGL that weekend I was expecting more players to come out and rep.  Only 12 people showed up for it and there was pretty much no hype for the game.  I was honestly expecting a lot more players in the 40-50 player range.  Oh well live and learn.  3s ran without a hitch with a surprise appearance from Jerry.  He went on to I believe knock Shane out of the tournament.  Its too bad he doesn’t come out anymore as he’s a good player.  Honestly though it was a nice change of pace for me since I started helping out with running events.  Normally I’d be doing a lot of stuff leaving me little time to do other things.  Especially at baselans where Melee will have around 40 entries.  So it was nice and I had a lot of fun just playing games with friends.  I think was the point where I also started to believe I could win an ST tournament.

With interest dieing in 3s we didn’t have any ranbats and the summer was really slow until Korea decided to join up again and we ran TST 3.  I’m glad he decided to join again as with the help of Jayser joining the staff and setting up the new site, the event ran really well.  We had a new entry for a tournament strangely in CvS 2.  A sudden influx of players came out for it.  Shanes old buddies came out and put on a good show.  Ed Lee was a new arrival to our scene.  He was a former retired player in TO, then decided to get back into the game when he found us.  I’m glad he came out as he’s a cool guy to chill with.  Along with some of the regulars and the new guys and Norman from Nowhere land.  The tournament ended up with around 12 entries.  A good turnout for the game.  James thought the first day was kind of disappointing but I was happy with it.  A good turnout for most games.  Melee was a little disappointing but the top players came out and repped themselves.  I was upset with my performance in ST as I lost to Norman and no offense to him but I should have done better.  Anyways minor things aside first day went well.  The second day was a pleasant surprise to me as 3s singles with the help of ggpo had  areally nice turnout.  Biggest 3s tournament we’ve ever done.  Beating out the team tournament we ran in 2006 by one entry.  There was a lot of hype surrounding the finals.  That was great to watch.  Congrats goes out to Shane.  He showed why he’s the best Street Fighter player this city has produced.  Winning 3s teams and singles and his usual dominance in ST.  TST ranks as number 3 for me as most memorable things to happen in 2008.  Number 2 I’ll mention later and number one, as some of you guys know I have proposed to my long time girlfriend Debbie.  She accepted and we are getting married on April 24, 2010.

With the high of TST thing slowed down as the hype started building for the new slew of games coming out.  Before I forget Soul Calibur 4 also came out and has made an appearance at all tournaments since coming out.  I enjoy the game just not something I can wrap my head around, and I don’t want to put in the time to learn it.  Before the new games came out we had two more events.  The second baselan and fight for the future.  Baselan again for me was a good time however with it being so close to FFTF2 I decided to only run SC4 at the event.  Kang again dominated the tournament as he had done at TST and I believe he won a mouse or something out of it.  Fight for the future was a big success.  THe event had a smaller turnout that TST but melee rebounded with a strong showing.  For the first time there was hype surrounding the finals for all the games.  I enjoyed watching the players and had a great time.  I won my first tournament ever by defeating Shane in ST.  It was a great moment for me.  I know Shane wasn’t at his best though especially after watching the videos, btw that was moment number 2 for me   We raised somewhere around $220 or so for the childrens hospital.

That wraps up the events from this year.  I had a ton of fun doing my part in the tournaments and as always love seeing everyone that comes out to the events.  We always appreciate the support of you guys coming out.  Keep practicing people and get hype for the upcoming year as theres gonna be a lot to look forward to.  That’ll wrap up this portion.  The next entry I put up I’ll cover the games of the year.  Till then if you guys want to leave comments just post them on the forum.

nYo

Here’s a change of pace from the street fighter players. I’ve taken the time and interviewed a Smash Brothers player. In my opinion he’s one of the best if not currently the best player in the city. He’s one of my favourite players to watch and he’s a cool guy to talk to. On a side note I’ve noticed DMCI has produced some great players. GO Maroons J To those of you outside the city he’s got some words for you guys as well(Nothing mean just some words).

Name: Russel Racca
Alias: Lickuid
Age 18

nYo:
What games do you play?

Lickuid:
I play Smash Brothers Melee, halo 3, and I enjoy playing rpgs

nYo:
So you compete in ssbm and halo then?

Lickuid:
I play SSBM competitively and i play halo for fun. Not really serious with halo.

nYo:
How did you get into Smash?

Lickuid:
I got into SSBM back in 04 when I saw world record times on break the targets on youtube

nYo:
Nice. How did that inspire you to start playing competitively?

Lickuid:
It didn’t actually , but the advanced terms I had been reading about on forums. I was wondering what they were but never really looked into them until I saw a pro match on youtube. I decided to learn the advanced techniques and started using them in my game play

nYo:
How did you learn to do the techniques?

Lickuid:
I learned most by watching an advanced how to play on youtube. Some I read explanations of the forums

nYo:
Develop anything techniques on your own?

Lickuid:
Not really my own techniques, but I’ve been able to incorporate the falcon moonwalk into my game play, which not very many players do.

nYo:
Who are your main characters?

Lickuid:
My mains are Captain Falcon and Falco.

nYo:
Why do you main them?

Lickuid:
Their combo ability on most of the characters.

nYo:
I’ve seen you use other characters to win before like young link. Did you give up on them?

Lickuid:
Pretty much , the use of higher tiers in tournaments and the meta game make my young link pretty useless. I’ll use Young Link if it’s situational though or if it’s against a scrub

nYo:
What do you think of the current tiers for melee? Does it affect how you select your character?

Lickuid:
I agree with the current tier list. It somewhat affects how I select my character, The only matchup I’m scared of is Falcon vs Sheik.

nYo:
How did you train to get to your current level?

Lickuid:
Playing with my crew mostly. tournies also helped a lot because of the experience with different players. i also improved a lot playing with the central cali players, watching videos and reading matchups also helped

nYo:
How did you do against the central cali guys?

Lickuid:
I was able to keep up with them, our skill level was pretty much the same. I went to a smashfest and we had a little 10 person tournament. i placed 3rd

nYo:
Awesome, did you get to play anyone notable there?

Lickuid:
Nope, they’re probably only known on smashboards , but nothing big. They’ve had experience with the high level players , though

nYo:
Do you think the other top players in the city can compete against other cities?

Lickuid:
Definitely, honestly we are underrated just cause our name isn’t out there. Wilson plays a beastly fox and I think I play a pretty high level Falcon. That’s my personal opinion, Most definitely I think we can take on the other cities for sure. We’ll find out soon when BC top player blunted object comes to town, He placed 4th at the “At Melee’s end” tournament(Big Canadian tournament).

nYo:
Who do you consider the top 4 players in the city? What do you think makes them so good?

Lickuid:
Top 4 would have to be Wilson Tieu, Janos Saluta, William Giang and myself. Ii would place Adam Hayes there but he’s too inconsistent with his play, No offence to him or anything. I think he’s still a very talented player. Wilson is an insane player. He can pretty much play every character and dominate with all the top and high tiers. Janos is a smart player and he’s been one of the few to take Wilson out in tournaments. William plays a good Marth, he’s really good at hitting the tippers.

nYo:
You’ve done very well in the tournaments here. Which ones of your performances stand out

Lickuid:
I would have to say the most recent tourney(TST III). I got knocked to losers pretty early and had to work my way back up to play Wilson in the grand finals. I lost only 1 round in the first set , and taking all then went undefeated in the second set. My Falcon was pretty boss that day. I’ve been patiently waiting to watch those matches and see how well I did. I was in my own zone that day and didn’t realize how bad I beat Wilson.

nYo:
How’d you hear about the competitive scene?

Lickuid:
Jeremy had an account on smashboards and Rex invited him to Baselan. Most of us couldn’t make it but Aris and my brother Nico went.

nYo:
How do you prepare yourself for tournaments?

Lickuid:
Before every tourney I play till like 4 am with whoever is at my house. Normally Janos is the one I practice with. We have like little to no sleep for every tourney

nYo:
I dunno how you two manage to place so well with so little sleep. What is your mindset when you’re playing in a tournament match? Do you play differently from casuals?

Lickuid:
Play to win. Play like a bitch if you have to, Just don’t think about losing, don’t mess up most definitely. During casuals I like to play around, it’s nothing serious but you get a feel from that persons play style and how to prepare yourself for an actual tourney match

nYo:
What are your thoughts on brawl?

Lickuid:
It sucks, It’s wack , there’s like no skill involved to win. Metaknight is the most broken character ever. The gap between casuals and competitive players skill isn’t very large. The only redeeming factor for brawl right now are the hacks that have been made. So far there is no tripping. L cancelling , melee air dodge (wavedash included) have been added, I still have yet to try it out. Either way, melee will still be the better game

nYo:
Would you play brawl with the hacks that are coming out?

Lickuid:
Once it’s polished, possibly.

nYo:
Thats probably gonna be a tough thing for us to pull off. Who would you consider your rival in the scene?

Lickuid:
Wilson for sure

nYo:
With new games coming out next year, anything else you plan to pick up competitively?

Lickuid:
I’ve actually put some thought into street fighter 4. The game looks promising, and a lot of my friends will be getting the game as well. I could maybe start up a crew and play competitively. We’ll see though. Tekken 6 too, If I ever get a PS3.

nYo:
FYI both games are coming to 360. What are your plans concerning melee over the next year? Planning to travel out?

Lickuid:
Ohh well that’s news to me. I thought it was a ps3 exclusive. I’ll probably go to California again. This coming summer and play with the same guys. If I have enough money I’d go to Alberta where the “top players” are located.

nYo:
Theres a group of us planning on heading to WCC2 in March care to join us and show them what Winnipeg smashers are about.

Lickuid:
What is WCC2 exactly? Is there a smash tourney being hosted there?

nYo:
Its Western Canadian Championships in Edmonton. I’d assume theres a smash tournament if not you can at least play some of the players there.

Lickuid:
Ohh I would go then, we’ll have to see though , march is still a ways away

nYo:
Agreed, lets conclude this with you talking some shit to other cities, just kiddin, anything you’d like to say to the locals and others around the country?

Lickuid:
To the locals – let’s get our name out there and good job keeping the smash scene alive.To other cities – we’re good players, Don’t judge us just because you haven’t seen us. A lot of your top players are overrated in my opinion , but we’ll see when we actually play each other.