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Evolution 2017 The Fighting Game Tournament of the Year (Read OP, No Game Whining)

But Punk would've picked Nash again?

You're probably right.

EDIT - Is it just me or is anyone else still hyped from EVO? I feel like there's no good podcast with great production that goes in on the analysis and recap of the events like you would in traditional sports. I just want to engage in the conversation about EVO, specifically SF. I don't want to hear a bunch of complaining about Abigail. I just want to listen to educated people who love SF go in on what that tournament was for 2 hours like a Giant Bombcast episode. I want to hear about the players and not as much about the meta and the character flaws. I want to hear about the analysis of the commentary and the format and the standout moments. Where is THAT deep dive?

Still giddy. I love that game. Shout out to MOV for taking Chun as far as she can go. Capcom: it's time to revisit Chun. Invincible frames at start up of SBK with priority like a wakeup DP? Return of her rising kick? I love Chun. I wish there was a male equivalent.
 

Shin

Banned
Man FGC deserve a larger prize pool, out of all eSports I find SFV players most entertaining.
Be it the matches, players comment or behavior, they are usually funny and bring the hype.
 

Coda

Member
I was there and the crowd went nuts over Skullomania, me included. However, I can't say I'm actually going to play it. The gameplay to me looks awful. Why are animations so floaty?

Some of the animations do need some polish but overall I think it looks fun. Gameplay sometimes can look worse than it feels too. I think it's still too early to make critical judgements about it, I'm sure things will clean up once they have more development time and funding.
 

Coda

Member
You're probably right.

EDIT - Is it just me or is anyone else still hyped from EVO? I feel like there's no good podcast with great production that goes in on the analysis and recap of the events like you would in traditional sports. I just want to engage in the conversation about EVO, specifically SF. I don't want to hear a bunch of complaining about Abigail. I just want to listen to educated people who love SF go in on what that tournament was for 2 hours like a Giant Bombcast episode. I want to hear about the players and not as much about the meta and the character flaws. I want to hear about the analysis of the commentary and the format and the standout moments. Where is THAT deep dive?

I know what you mean, there should be something after. At least we have Best of V Show on Twitch which will probably be the best post show IMO. It's on tomorrow I believe around 7 PM EST.
 
You're probably right.

EDIT - Is it just me or is anyone else still hyped from EVO? I feel like there's no good podcast with great production that goes in on the analysis and recap of the events like you would in traditional sports. I just want to engage in the conversation about EVO, specifically SF. I don't want to hear a bunch of complaining about Abigail. I just want to listen to educated people who love SF go in on what that tournament was for 2 hours like a Giant Bombcast episode. I want to hear about the players and not as much about the meta and the character flaws. I want to hear about the analysis of the commentary and the format and the standout moments. Where is THAT deep dive?

Still giddy. I love that game. Shout out to MOV for taking Chun as far as she can go. Capcom: it's time to revisit Chun. Invincible frames at start up of SBK with priority like a wakeup DP? Return of her rising kick? I love Chun. I wish there was a male equivalent.

Most of the people you want to hear that from are still traveling back from/recovering from EVO lol
 

JusDoIt

Member
You're probably right.

EDIT - Is it just me or is anyone else still hyped from EVO? I feel like there's no good podcast with great production that goes in on the analysis and recap of the events like you would in traditional sports. I just want to engage in the conversation about EVO, specifically SF. I don't want to hear a bunch of complaining about Abigail. I just want to listen to educated people who love SF go in on what that tournament was for 2 hours like a Giant Bombcast episode. I want to hear about the players and not as much about the meta and the character flaws. I want to hear about the analysis of the commentary and the format and the standout moments. Where is THAT deep dive?

Still giddy. I love that game. Shout out to MOV for taking Chun as far as she can go. Capcom: it's time to revisit Chun. Invincible frames at start up of SBK with priority like a wakeup DP? Return of her rising kick? I love Chun. I wish there was a male equivalent.

You're gonna have to wait until UltraChen's Tuesday show.
 

mbpm1

Member
Fgc has some podcasts going. SDR on twitch tonight under team spooky channel (mostly kof focused), best of v (mostly sfv focused) tomorrow, ultrachentv (general) and if RIP gets some people again somehow Boomcast (mostly tekken focused).

You won't find one show covering it all but you'll get some stuff if you listen to all three. It won't really be "pro" but it's cool
 
S2 probably hit him the absolute hardest, and Combofiend made it no secret that they broke Nash's legs because Infiltration was playing him in a style they were not anticipating.

Seriously
giphy.gif

giphy.gif
 

pooptest

Member
It was a bad situation for Punk either way. I love Punk, but i think he would've lost to Itazan too. I knew that if Tokido played in longer sets, he'd beat Punk as well.

There were a couple of HUGE tells:

1. Punk wasn't confident that he could take Tokido. He revealed on one of the earlier streams that he and Tokido just played a First to 10, and Tokido swept. Experience goes a long way and a lot of these guys are conditioned for shorter sets. Tokido is legend as well as a Daigo-level master and WILL DOWNLOAD YOU. He trains with the absolute best.

No offense to Jwong and Kbrad and Alex Meyers because those guys are phenomenal players and among the best to ever do it, but when your training partners are Daigo and Mago and Bonchan and you're already a veteran who is considered one of the Top 5 in the world, Punk really had an uphill battle.

2. I was hoping that Itazan would lose to Tokido, and he did. Itazan is too dope and I just don't think that Punk has had enough master-level Zangief matchup practice. Punk's only Gief/Karin matchup was Snake Eyez, and Snake bested him at CEO. Itazan might be a bit better than Snake, but only by a hair and it's 50/50 at that.

I truly don't think that Punk would've defeated him. Especially if, like Tokido, the sets go longer. If Punk feels dispirited now, imagine how he would've felt if Itazan got him in an SPD loop. That shit might've snatched his young soul! It's better that he lost to Tokido because at least he can see where he can improve and aim for next year.

When Gief crushes you, it's toss the fucking controller down and reassess your life soul-crushing.

Edit - Also, shout out to Fchamp. That dude one day is going to go all the way in SF. If he played any other character, he'd stay in Top 8. He's about that Dhalsim life and Champ is the most amazing technical scientist I've ever seen. Him and Xian.

As much as a Du fan I am, I'm very pleased with the outcome of the Top 8. All the matches were amazing and entertaining to watch, albeit nail biters!

And to pile on, FChamp is one of my favorite players. He being a heel in most people's eyes (FGC persona?) and heel antics, he knows his shit and his execution is amazing. He played extremely well and I wouldn't have been mad if he eliminated Tokido and ended up facing Punk in Grand Finals. Also, a Sim winning @ EVO would be mind blowing.
 
As much as a Du fan I am, I'm very pleased with the outcome of the Top 8. All the matches were amazing and entertaining to watch, albeit nail biters!

And to pile on, FChamp is one of my favorite players. He being a heel in most people's eyes (FGC persona?) and heel antics, he knows his shit and his execution is amazing. He played extremely well and I wouldn't have been mad if he eliminated Tokido and ended up facing Punk in Grand Finals. Also, a Sim winning @ EVO would be mind blowing.

Man, that Wolfkrone vs Fchamp match to get into top 8 was one of my favorite matches! Shit on Krone all day for being a heel, but he plays like a damn scientist. His Laura demands your respect so when you watched scientist vs scientist play and realized that Champ figured out a way to completely keep Krone out and at bay? RE-fucking-SPECT! I felt so bad for Krone because there was a point near the end where there was NOTHING he could do. Champ had him. It was so damn good. And the mutual respect was so real! Champ outplayed him.

Edit: Similar to when Du was taken out, my favorite matches are the ones where it's not a deficiency in the character or the game or a bad day or nerves. It's when a player is just outplayed and the opponent gets into your head. Du lost so completely. That was it. He could switch out, he could get coaching or more time or whatever, but his Guile just couldn't deal. And he played GREAT.

Now MOV? Chun's deficiencies are holding him back. He played a fantastic Chun. For all of the people who say that SFV has no creativity, as a low level Chun myself, I can clearly see the differences in style and execution between MOV, Go1chi, Pretty Ricki Oritz, Filipinoman, and Lud. They each approach the character VERY differently. People are going to have to start appreciating the strengths of this game soon....

Re: Tokido winning - couldn't happen to a more deserving player. Love Tokido. That said, if Champ won with sim, I would've jumped through the roof. Nobody plays Sim like Champ. NOBODY.
 

zoodoo

Member
watching the SFV top 8, Punk lost to experience, it was so obvious. But Punk has a bright future, he needs to learn to deal with stress and pressure.

Also Itagashi Zangief is fucking dope.
 

colinp

Banned
Does he have the best English out of all the Japanese players?

I think he might very well be. He's crazy smart. Graduated from Tokyo University and was doing graduate work before he decided to quit to become a pro gamer. Have any US players come from Harvard/MIT to compete?
 

Keylow415

Member
You're probably right.

EDIT - Is it just me or is anyone else still hyped from EVO? I feel like there's no good podcast with great production that goes in on the analysis and recap of the events like you would in traditional sports. I just want to engage in the conversation about EVO, specifically SF. I don't want to hear a bunch of complaining about Abigail. I just want to listen to educated people who love SF go in on what that tournament was for 2 hours like a Giant Bombcast episode. I want to hear about the players and not as much about the meta and the character flaws. I want to hear about the analysis of the commentary and the format and the standout moments. Where is THAT deep dive?

Still giddy. I love that game. Shout out to MOV for taking Chun as far as she can go. Capcom: it's time to revisit Chun. Invincible frames at start up of SBK with priority like a wakeup DP? Return of her rising kick? I love Chun. I wish there was a male equivalent.

Vesper arcade does a really good Podcast just not that much. He's by far the best person if you like sf5
 

Ninjimbo

Member
Stream of consciousness...

I haven't commented yet because I'm still in a buzz from last night's result. I never thought I would see Punk drop 6 games in a set especially against an Akuma. I know Punk lost to SnakeEyez's Gief and Akuma, but that's cuz he was coming from losers and it wasn't his Karin that got beaten by Snake's Akuma. It was Nash.

That said, it didn't dawn on me on what this match was about until Tokido said that Mago was instrumental for his success here. Tokido plays Mago all the time, and Mago is like the 2nd Best Karin in the world. Of course he had matchup knowledge, and Akuma has distinct advantages over Karin. Tokido beyond just being a genius at fighting games, he has a community of masters to play and learn against. When he had to face FChamp at ELEAGUE, he trained with Mochi. When he had to face Du, he trained with Daigo. When he had to face Punk, he trained with Mago. Tokido put an insane amount of work and time into these matchups while also building up the best Akuma we've seen yet in SFV. Tokido cribbed some tech from Sako no doubt, but Tokido is doing stuff with the character that we just haven't seen anybody do: his pressure, his mixups, his approaches, his parries, his use of V-Meter, it's all been astutely developed over the course of seven months. I follow him on CFN and have watched his fights, and it's a night and day difference from where he started.

So a great Akuma, coupled with a quality community is the answer for how Punk got taken down, oh, and the fact that Punk was nervous? The last one, that's a funny thing to say if you ask me. Punk just won ELEAGUE and he had steamrolled his way to the GF. If Punk was nervous, he certainly didn't show it at any point during Top 8. But, I'm getting ahead of myself, nerves played a role in his defeat. However, I'd like to know the reason why seeing as how we had no prior sign to indicate that Punk was battling nerves. He looked like a player in full control.

As I saw the match unfold, I definitely started to pick up on what Tokido was doing. Now I don't fully understand what his game plan was, but Tokido was very aware of Punk's patterns and tendencies. He was baiting out the buttons and punishing accordingly. He would stop strings with jabs and went all in towards an aerial assault exploiting Karin's lack of reliable anti-air. More often than not he would trade hits and that was fine, because Tokido believes that an SFV match doesn't start until the V Trigger is activated. So you saw a tactical plan unfold and Punk, for the first time ever, I noticed that he didn't know how to respond. At one point in the match in the second set, Punk sits back at the corner not pressing a button, just blocking and it last for a second but it's a certified moment. It's a staredown. Why? Because a player of Punk's caliber is aware of all the options available to Akuma and Tokido had used them all flawlessly. Punk, in essence, had no idea which way Tokido wanted to go so he blocked. Block. Block. Block. It's what we all do when we don't have a read on someone and we know they have a read on us.

Punk had been downloaded. JWong told the story later on Twitter of Tokido blanking him in a casual FT10 set. Punk knew Tokido had a read on him, but what Punk didn't realize is that he had no read on Tokido. When he got a glimpse of the shiny new tech Tokido had developed, he had no answer. So he crumbled.

I don't believe Punk would have lost to Itazan or Kazunoko or even Du. It was only Tokido that had the keys to unlock Punk's Karin. To say this was about experience or composure is, I think, to reduce the kind of battle that is being played at this level. Tokido said himself in the post game interview, pressing buttons doesn't work. It isn't until you learn how to control a match and manipulate a player that you really start improving. SFV, probably more than any other SF, is all about how well you know your opponent. I bet Punk had no idea Tokido would be waking up with Ex-Demon Flips at that rate he was doing it and that kind of stuff kept piling on and on in his head. So much went in that it overwhelmed.

Wonderful stuff. SFV is one hell of a game at the highest levels. I wish the game didn't have the reputation it did because at the end of it all, SFV is a really solid fighting game. I've been thinking about this shit the whole day.

Sorry for the rambling, but man, what an awesome Top 8 and Tokido is a living legend that can stand next to Daigod.

Can't wait to see how the rest of this year unfolds. The person that fought Tokido the hardest at EVO was Haitani. Keep that in mind.
 

Shouta

Member
Does he have the best English out of all the Japanese players?

Of the Japanese players I know, Tokido and Abegen have the highest English ability, at least for full-time players. There's probably a few others that have decent English though.

I think he might very well be. He's crazy smart. Graduated from Tokyo University and was doing graduate work before he decided to quit to become a pro gamer. Have any US players come from Harvard/MIT to compete?

Comparing Tokyo and Harvard/MIT only works on the fact they're the top ones in their country. =P Tokyo U usually ranks lower than a lot of places in the US that aren't Stanford, Harvard, MIT, etc as I recall.

What's impressive is what Tokido graduated from, He got his degree in Materials Science and Engineering.
 

Lulubop

Member
Of the Japanese players I know, Tokido and Abegen have the highest English ability, at least for full-time players. There's probably a few others that have decent English though.



Comparing Tokyo and Harvard/MIT only works on the fact they're the top ones in their country. =P Tokyo U usually ranks lower than a lot of places in the US that aren't Stanford, Harvard, MIT, etc as I recall.

What's impressive is what Tokido graduated from, He got his degree in Materials Science and Engineering.

Aren't the Canons MIT grads?
 

GeoNeo

I disagree.
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