There's been much talk surrounding Superman in the Injustice community as of late. Which makes it somewhat ironic that Wednesday Night Fights, home of the first Superman player to win a tournament, and host to two of the Evo Top 8-placing Superman players, has become a world of... Solomon Grundy. That's right; in the last month of Wednesday Night Fights, Tyrant has won a record four tournaments in a row, doing most of the damage with his trusty friend Grundy and using his trailblazing Kal El only on occasion.
But there was something notably different about this week's showdown at Super Arcade. In previous weeks, Tyrant has typically met former WNF winner Emperor Theo blow for blow, using Theo's main against him to even the odds. But this week, when faced with his weekly adversary in Top 8, and with the tournament eventually on the line, Tyrant stuck to his guns and went Grundy all the way through. And what followed is probably one of the most interesting and unpredictable Top 3's WNF has seen to date.
So to rewind and recap the action; on Wednesday we joined Injustice close to the Top 4, as there was a Killer Intinct 2 mystery game tournament that was featured during pools. The first streamed IGAU match had Wonder Chef and his newly acquired General Zod, facing off against, and ultimately defeating EVO Top 8 finalist MF Slayer's Superman (playing as "Maybe Free" Slayer this week). The next match put Chef against WNF regular and Deathstroke player Immortal Angel, who had beaten Legend and Chef earlier in the night on his way to Top 4. This time Chef pulled out his Green Lantern, and won a pair of close matches, demonstrating how GL's Far Rocket Power can be helpful in disrupting Deathstroke's zoning rhythm and gaining some advantage to move in.
Winners Finals set the unpredictability in motion for the evening, as Tyrant and Theo went head to head for the first time that night. Theo, known for his zoning, started off well, using Superman's beams and breath to keep Grundy at bay and narrowly evading the Walking Corpse armor with jump-back Heat Vision. With Theo meter-burning his lasers to chip away at Tyrant's health a bit at a time, Tyrant was never able to close that gap, and was hit with a couple of low lasers that helped Theo secure Game 1. The second match was very even through the first half, as Tyrant played very patiently and caught Theo with some timely grabs to make up a small life deficit. But with Tyrant having to use his clash fairly early on, a critical pair of dropped combos and some adept reads by Theo eventually put him in a large hole. Although a narrowly missed punish by Theo on a thrown interactible give Tyrant a final chance, Theo kept his cool, put Tyrant back to fullscreen again with a wake-up Super Breath and zoned him out mercilessly to take the set 2-0.
With Tyrant now sent to Losers finals, Chef returned to join him in a rematch of the championship bout from couple of weeks ago. Tyrant pressured Chef heavily early on, hitting him with a chain of combos and locking Chef down in the corner as he tried to find some room to breathe. Chef was finally able to dash to safety with a wake-up Zod charge and looked to be starting his offense, but Tyrant nailed him on a read with a Walking Corpse combo into a Bill Menoutis-Approved untechable interactible OTG, and then used Grundy's air grab to keep Chef from jumping out. Showing shades of his previous tournament career as a Jax main, Tyrant never stopped moving, and by the time it was over he had won with about 160% life to spare. Game 2 started out much better for Chef as he used Ferris' tool chest interactible to put distance between himself and Grundy and then harrassed him with Zod's Kryptonian Rifle setups. But the hanging missle interactible smash gave Tyrant momentum again; and he pushed forward, powering through Chef's wakeup armor and pushing him back into the corner. Tyrant forced Chef to wager after catching him on an attempted backdash, and a meter-burned Swamp Hands put Chef on the ropes, as Zod's trait failed to earn its keep and whiffed several critical grabs. With Chef on the edge of death, Tyrant began to throw everything in sight, and was able to trade for the win to advance to Grand Finals.
------------------------------------
Grand Finals started off explosively, with Theo and Tyrant trading combos and interactibles, each trying to quickly grab the upper hand. Grundy's B1 reset eventually closed Theo's first life bar out and gave Tyrant a solid lead. But this time, when Theo attempted to establish his zoning game, Tyrant kept him locked down with Swamp Hands; and a couple of great reactions gave Tyrant the first game. In the second match, the two were close to even; but Tyrant kept up his pressure, using Grundy's Health chain to negate the effects of Theo's fullscreen zoning, and Walking Corpse cancelling through some of the lasers. When Theo attempted to pick up the Wayne Manor car, Tyrant narrowly caught him right out of the start up, setting him up for another Pain Chain series and forcing Theo to clash. Putting on a display of anti-zoning techniques, Tyrant backdashed multiple Air Heat Visions, and barely caught Theo on a whiff punish to put him in dire straights. With things looking bleak for Kal El, Grundy pressured relentlessly and Tyrant closed out the bracket reset, 2-0.
The second set started well for Theo, as he immediately caught Tyrant on a backdash and comboed him, eventually sending him packing to the next area of the stage. A wake up Rising Grab yanked Tyrant out of his pressure, and Theo went back to his formidable zoning game to keep Tyrant on the defensive. The two went back and forth, and with Superman getting the life lead, Tyrant bolstered himself with Grundy's Defense chain. After being put back to fullscren, Tyrant began backdashing everything (including the grand piano!) as he furiously worked to make a comeback. But when a launcher into Super move should have secured Theo the win, a slight misstep in the timing caused the Super to whiff, leading to surprised gasps from the audience. And with 9 seconds left and Superman holding onto a convincing life lead, Tyrant embarked on the truest of Real Master™ comebacks, eventually closing Theo out with a single second to spare to the amazement of everyone involved. With Theo still recovering, Tyrant began the final game on a tear, grabbing an early lead and backdashing almost everything Theo put out. With Theo trying his hardest to keep Tyrant out, Tyrant remained patient through laser after laser, finally making it in and causing Theo to clash. And with Theo up in the final segment, Tyrant punished a jump with Swamp Hands into Pain Chain to steal the game, the 1st place finish, and the hearts and minds of thousands of internet viewers.
With a number of people crying foul over how difficult it can be to defeat the Kryptonian superstar, this week the character fell prey to both General Zod and Solomon Grundy in Top 8. And with no collusion to be found in Injustice at Wednesday Night Fights, everyone seems hungry to win and is playing at their absolute best. Tyrant has enhanced his already impressive run of 4 weeks by proving that skillful play and smart use of the game's mechanics can overcome a lot of significant obstacles. And with Grundy looming large over Wednesday Night fights ("Grundy no stop!"), will anyone be able to defeat him? Tune in next week to find out.
Top 8:
1) RDK|Tyrant (Grundy, Superman)
2) EMPEROR_THEO (Superman)
3) EGP Wonder_Chef (Green Lantern, Zod, Superman)
4) Immortal Angel (Deathstroke, Scorpion)
5) LEGEND (Sinestro, Flash, Superman)
5) Maybe Free Slayer (Superman, Batman)
7) Krayzie (Flash)
7) Alex Valle (Batman)
Stream Archive:
http://www.twitch.tv/leveluplive/b/439006726?t=5h6m26s
Bracket:
http://levelup.challonge.com/wnfae2013_injustice_1_5_se
But there was something notably different about this week's showdown at Super Arcade. In previous weeks, Tyrant has typically met former WNF winner Emperor Theo blow for blow, using Theo's main against him to even the odds. But this week, when faced with his weekly adversary in Top 8, and with the tournament eventually on the line, Tyrant stuck to his guns and went Grundy all the way through. And what followed is probably one of the most interesting and unpredictable Top 3's WNF has seen to date.
So to rewind and recap the action; on Wednesday we joined Injustice close to the Top 4, as there was a Killer Intinct 2 mystery game tournament that was featured during pools. The first streamed IGAU match had Wonder Chef and his newly acquired General Zod, facing off against, and ultimately defeating EVO Top 8 finalist MF Slayer's Superman (playing as "Maybe Free" Slayer this week). The next match put Chef against WNF regular and Deathstroke player Immortal Angel, who had beaten Legend and Chef earlier in the night on his way to Top 4. This time Chef pulled out his Green Lantern, and won a pair of close matches, demonstrating how GL's Far Rocket Power can be helpful in disrupting Deathstroke's zoning rhythm and gaining some advantage to move in.
Winners Finals set the unpredictability in motion for the evening, as Tyrant and Theo went head to head for the first time that night. Theo, known for his zoning, started off well, using Superman's beams and breath to keep Grundy at bay and narrowly evading the Walking Corpse armor with jump-back Heat Vision. With Theo meter-burning his lasers to chip away at Tyrant's health a bit at a time, Tyrant was never able to close that gap, and was hit with a couple of low lasers that helped Theo secure Game 1. The second match was very even through the first half, as Tyrant played very patiently and caught Theo with some timely grabs to make up a small life deficit. But with Tyrant having to use his clash fairly early on, a critical pair of dropped combos and some adept reads by Theo eventually put him in a large hole. Although a narrowly missed punish by Theo on a thrown interactible give Tyrant a final chance, Theo kept his cool, put Tyrant back to fullscreen again with a wake-up Super Breath and zoned him out mercilessly to take the set 2-0.
With Tyrant now sent to Losers finals, Chef returned to join him in a rematch of the championship bout from couple of weeks ago. Tyrant pressured Chef heavily early on, hitting him with a chain of combos and locking Chef down in the corner as he tried to find some room to breathe. Chef was finally able to dash to safety with a wake-up Zod charge and looked to be starting his offense, but Tyrant nailed him on a read with a Walking Corpse combo into a Bill Menoutis-Approved untechable interactible OTG, and then used Grundy's air grab to keep Chef from jumping out. Showing shades of his previous tournament career as a Jax main, Tyrant never stopped moving, and by the time it was over he had won with about 160% life to spare. Game 2 started out much better for Chef as he used Ferris' tool chest interactible to put distance between himself and Grundy and then harrassed him with Zod's Kryptonian Rifle setups. But the hanging missle interactible smash gave Tyrant momentum again; and he pushed forward, powering through Chef's wakeup armor and pushing him back into the corner. Tyrant forced Chef to wager after catching him on an attempted backdash, and a meter-burned Swamp Hands put Chef on the ropes, as Zod's trait failed to earn its keep and whiffed several critical grabs. With Chef on the edge of death, Tyrant began to throw everything in sight, and was able to trade for the win to advance to Grand Finals.
------------------------------------
Grand Finals started off explosively, with Theo and Tyrant trading combos and interactibles, each trying to quickly grab the upper hand. Grundy's B1 reset eventually closed Theo's first life bar out and gave Tyrant a solid lead. But this time, when Theo attempted to establish his zoning game, Tyrant kept him locked down with Swamp Hands; and a couple of great reactions gave Tyrant the first game. In the second match, the two were close to even; but Tyrant kept up his pressure, using Grundy's Health chain to negate the effects of Theo's fullscreen zoning, and Walking Corpse cancelling through some of the lasers. When Theo attempted to pick up the Wayne Manor car, Tyrant narrowly caught him right out of the start up, setting him up for another Pain Chain series and forcing Theo to clash. Putting on a display of anti-zoning techniques, Tyrant backdashed multiple Air Heat Visions, and barely caught Theo on a whiff punish to put him in dire straights. With things looking bleak for Kal El, Grundy pressured relentlessly and Tyrant closed out the bracket reset, 2-0.
The second set started well for Theo, as he immediately caught Tyrant on a backdash and comboed him, eventually sending him packing to the next area of the stage. A wake up Rising Grab yanked Tyrant out of his pressure, and Theo went back to his formidable zoning game to keep Tyrant on the defensive. The two went back and forth, and with Superman getting the life lead, Tyrant bolstered himself with Grundy's Defense chain. After being put back to fullscren, Tyrant began backdashing everything (including the grand piano!) as he furiously worked to make a comeback. But when a launcher into Super move should have secured Theo the win, a slight misstep in the timing caused the Super to whiff, leading to surprised gasps from the audience. And with 9 seconds left and Superman holding onto a convincing life lead, Tyrant embarked on the truest of Real Master™ comebacks, eventually closing Theo out with a single second to spare to the amazement of everyone involved. With Theo still recovering, Tyrant began the final game on a tear, grabbing an early lead and backdashing almost everything Theo put out. With Theo trying his hardest to keep Tyrant out, Tyrant remained patient through laser after laser, finally making it in and causing Theo to clash. And with Theo up in the final segment, Tyrant punished a jump with Swamp Hands into Pain Chain to steal the game, the 1st place finish, and the hearts and minds of thousands of internet viewers.
With a number of people crying foul over how difficult it can be to defeat the Kryptonian superstar, this week the character fell prey to both General Zod and Solomon Grundy in Top 8. And with no collusion to be found in Injustice at Wednesday Night Fights, everyone seems hungry to win and is playing at their absolute best. Tyrant has enhanced his already impressive run of 4 weeks by proving that skillful play and smart use of the game's mechanics can overcome a lot of significant obstacles. And with Grundy looming large over Wednesday Night fights ("Grundy no stop!"), will anyone be able to defeat him? Tune in next week to find out.
Top 8:
1) RDK|Tyrant (Grundy, Superman)
2) EMPEROR_THEO (Superman)
3) EGP Wonder_Chef (Green Lantern, Zod, Superman)
4) Immortal Angel (Deathstroke, Scorpion)
5) LEGEND (Sinestro, Flash, Superman)
5) Maybe Free Slayer (Superman, Batman)
7) Krayzie (Flash)
7) Alex Valle (Batman)
Stream Archive:
http://www.twitch.tv/leveluplive/b/439006726?t=5h6m26s
Bracket:
http://levelup.challonge.com/wnfae2013_injustice_1_5_se
