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cR SonicFox wins Injustice: Gods Among Us at Winter Brawl 9!

GamerBlake90

Blue Blurs for Life!
Before anything else, I want to apologize for the unexpected delay in this announcement. It is not clear as to what went wrong in the channels of communication, but in an effort to correct the lack of coverage that has occurred, I have stepped forward.

I also want to note that, of all the tournament write-ups I have done, this one is going to be the most...unique...to myself. Particularly because, for once in my tournament streak I write this post after placing up there in the Top 3 alongside these amazing players who have demonstrated to the community that one's love for a game can go an amazing distance, and I am now the editor sharing the results. There won't be any third-person style of writing here, as I want to capture the Top 8 experience from both my point of view and everyone else's to the best of my ability.

More apologies go out to those watching the stream in light of an unexpected obstacle taking the stream offline for a prolonged period of time. Fortunately, it appears that all of the Top 8 matches have been captured in the video that will be shared at the bottom of this post while the rest are featured in a stream archive from Kombat Network's channel.

So let's get started!

From Winner's Bracket, cr RM SonicFox and RM Biohazard sat down to start off the tournament, but after playing out a portion of their set, Sonic was summoned to the main stage to participate in the Skullgirls Top 8 and so their match had to be postponed. As such, HoneyBee and KDZ's match took priority, during which each player's control over the other's tactics would shift in and out of balance as Wonder Woman and The Flash assaulted one another with their unpredictable mix-ups. Finally, the determination exuded by the Flash of Canada propels HoneyBee to victory, and KDZ is dropped into Loser's Bracket.

Speaking of Loser's Bracket, Coach Steve (also known as BIFU Insaynne) took on Decay and was reduced to a 1-2 match deficit when the stream failed due to technical complications. In spite of this, Coach Steve would stand firm for his kingdom of Atlantis against the relentless power of RM Decay and his infamous LOOOOOOOBOOOOOOOOO. Or should that be "LoBro?" Jokes aside, even the almighty king of the oceans could not wash away the sting left by Lobo's overwhelming damage output, and eventually he is brought to his knees before the Czarnian. Decay advances to the next round!

After a temporary downtime, the stream was brought back on air. Cossner and I both took to the stage afterwards for a match that was highly anticipated by the Injustice community, since we both had never found ourselves in a Top 8 until last weekend. Despite the numerous uphill challenges faced by Green Arrow players, Cossner proves that he is not daunted by such concerns as his highly mobile playstyle keeps me on the defensive, all while maximizing his damage and set-ups without fail. Unfortunately for him, his panicked attempt to run out the clock in the fourth game was foiled by a hard read on his Savage Blast, which gave me the combo opportunity necessary to reclaim the life lead and win by time-out! The hype is felt by the crowd inside the venue and in the stream chat!

With the conclusion of the first round in Loser's Top 8, SonicFox was available to redo his set with RM Biohazard after their delay from earlier. Given how Batgirl's mobility has proven stressful for Bane, Bio pulled out his other mainstream character with which he'd established his name in Canada: Nightwing! But SonicFox's constantly adaptive gameplay discourages Bio's faith in Nightwing, forcing him to retreat to the walking tank of venom who ultimately fared no better. After Bio's miraculous survival from Batgirl's Super Move, SonicFox concludes the game with a Flying Bat, showing that the magic pixel does not always yield miracles for its bearer!

Proceeding into Loser's Quarterfinals, two of New Jersey's finest Injustice players were ready to have at it! Not wanting to place his faith solely in offense anymore, KDZ summons his legendary Superman in an effort to gain the zoning edge over Decay, and for a while, the plan worked. But Decay was simply too swole to be deterred by Superman's laser barrage and his offense revolving around F2 3. Before the former EVO 2013 champion knew it, he found himself at the mercy of Decay's overpowered knockdown game. Unable to shake him off, Decay comes back from the edge of defeat and wins 3-2, causing a stunning upset that shocks everyone present!

Next up was another chapter of RM destroying its own ranks..myself versus Biohazard. As much as I wanted all my members to place first, there could only be one winner in the end. I was prepared for Biohazard's Bane, but Bio had no desire to subject his Bane to the wall that is Batman's zoning so he opted to use Nightwing instead. After a rough first game, I recovered enough to repel his offense and forced panicked counter-attacks from him, nearly all of them receiving a punishment. With the third game having narrowly been clutched out by an awesome trait combo for a juggle conversion, I'd gained the momentum I needed to prevail over Bio 3-1.

With no time to rest, Decay was next in line to try his hand at toppling my climb to the top. Based off my last few sets with Decay it was unmistakable that the man of steel (sorry, Clark Kent) had stepped up his defense against Batman, for which I believe he can thank @DarthArma as they do train a lot. As such, I had to get extremely creative with Batman's offense in order to widen the holes in his defense, including delayed F3 overheads to expand upon my mix-ups. Also, with Lobo's damage output shooting through the roof in the Wayne Manor thanks largely to that chandelier, as well as Batman suffering with terrible wake-ups, Decay kept the Dark Knight very much on edge...until one misjudged Hook Charge on his part caused him to lose the spacing game. I capitalized on this to win 3-1.

Only three competitors remained standing in the tournament now, and two of those would meet in Winner's Finals: RM HoneyBee and cR SonicFox. A consistent Top 3 placer would stand in the way of the EVO 2014 champion's warpath to victory, as another melee-based battle broke out between the young brawlers. In spite of the Flash's ridiculous damage output, his short limbs limiting his block punishment options against Batgirl's cartwheel gives Sonic the edge he needs to advance to Grand Finals, but yet HoneyBee's drive to win is not extinguished...

The speedster recovers his composure in time to confront me for Loser's Finals. We pick our characters and go to one of the most dreaded levels in the game: the Gotham City Alleyway. That meant somebody's trash was about to get extracted and this time around I was the unlucky guy. After a bad judgment call where I did not double F3 the Flash for unclashable damage, I double jump the dumpster and input my divekick...only to collide with said dumpster while it was still in those extensively active frames.

Seriously, SCREW THAT DUMPSTER! :mad:

But a loss is a loss. With anger polluting my mind after that first loss, HoneyBee pulled a convincing victory in the second game with his gray health still remaining. In response I opt to re-randomize the stage since the dumpster was hurting me more than helping me, bringing us to Luthor's Lab at the Insurgency's hideout. While the third game proved much closer than the second, HoneyBee quickly carried me to the corner and struck me down with a Sonic Pound. I congratulated him with a smile and told him to shoot for the big win.

Injustice Winter Brawl 9 Grand Finals.png
As I retreated to the commentator's station, HoneyBee and SonicFox confronted one another yet again for a rematch in Grand Finals. With the faith of the Flash community resting on HoneyBee's shoulders, he charged into battle against Batgirl's Hero. HoneyBee's use of MB Lightning Charge to check SonicFox's movement proved instrumental to his progress, as did a gradual improvement in his defense against Sonic's mix-ups. In spite of Sonic's decision to randomize the level again, the Metropolis interactables end up favoring HoneyBee more than Sonic in a manner similar to his match with me, and eventually Sonic finds himself joining his opponent in Loser's Bracket as the Grand Finals are reset!

Nobody had any idea who was going to achieve the ultimate victory anymore. The following question etched itself in everyone's minds: had the Flash of Canada finally expanded his domination to the frozen northeast lands of the United States? One last 3/5 set would give us the answer. Even the energetic SonicFox found his face scrunched from intense concentration.

As the stage continued to flip-flop, SonicFox began to decipher HoneyBee's mindset in his reads, and eventually turned HoneyBee's punish attempts against him. As ambiguous as the Flash's set-ups have proven to be, SonicFox combats him with some ambiguity of his own, while reclaiming interactable control in the matches thanks largely to the Ferris Aircraft. By the end of the last game, SonicFox had fully recovered from the deficit, and victory was his.

Thusly, his win streak in the Injustice tournament goes untarnished! Sincerest congratulations to cR RM SonicFox for defending the pride of Barbara Gordon just when all seemed lost for him! Even with Mortal Kombat X's release looming in the horizon, plenty of juice remains to be squeezed from the hype brought about by Injustice tournament play! :)
Bracket link: http://bigegaming.challonge.com/wb9_igau_top8

You can watch the Top 8 at this video provided by Kombat Network. Additionally, the matches that occurred before the stream's downtime can be seen at this archive. For the archive, it would be wise to start watching at 3:03:00 to make sure you miss nothing.

Top 8 Match Log

Winner's Semifinals


cR SonicFox (Batgirl): 3 vs. RM Biohazard (Bane/Nightwing): 0

RM HoneyBee (The Flash): 3 vs. RM EMP KDZ (Wonder Woman): 2

Loser's Bracket

RM Cossner (Green Arrow): 1 vs. OBS RM GamerBlake (Batman): 3

RM Decay (Lobo): 3 vs. BIFU EIU Coach Steve (Aquaman): 1

Loser's Quarterfinals

OBS RM GamerBlake (Batman): 3 vs. RM Biohazard (Nightwing): 1

RM Decay (Lobo): 3 vs. RM EMP KDZ (Superman): 2

Loser's Semifinals

RM Decay (Lobo): 1 vs. OBS RM GamerBlake (Batman): 3

Winner's Finals

RM HoneyBee (The Flash): 2 vs. cR SonicFox (Batgirl): 3

Loser's Finals

RM HoneyBee (The Flash): 3 vs. OBS RM GamerBlake (Batman): 0

Grand Finals, Set 1

RM HoneyBee (The Flash): 3 vs. cR SonicFox (Batgirl): 1

Grand Finals, Set 2

RM HoneyBee (The Flash): 2 vs. cR SonicFox (Batgirl): 3
 
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SneakyTortoise

Official Master of Salt
I am still fucking mad about that interactable robbing me. :( But knowing @HoneyBee, he was going to come out ahead one way or another.
I can imagine. Think about how that guy must have felt when @FOREVER KING trapped him in the corner and assaulted him with that dumpster over and over.

You took one for the Batman team.

Also, congrats on an amazing showing, battling through loser's after getting taken out by Indie is no easy feat. Your reactions and defence were on point.

Just ask Carl for lessons on dive kicking ;)