By this point, I am out of adjectives to describe how solid of a grip Rico Suave has had on New York's Next Level Battle Circuit. So for now, I'll just say that I'm considering coining it 'Rico Suave Battle Circuit' until someone else wins. At this point, the entire NJ/NY area has temporarily become a World of Rico, as he has won the last two 8 on The Break tournaments (defeating the EVO champion KDZ this week), along with NJ's Red Bank Rumble (defeating the ECT champion Tom Brady) and the last 8 or 9 RSBC's (beating the UFGT and CEO champion, Chris G, multiple times).
This event has been earning a reputation for upsets and surprising appearances of various characters, and this week was no exception. This week, veteran tourney player and CEO Top 8 placer CD Jr. came down to hop into the mix, playing his new main the Flash, along with Cyborg player RelaxedState. But it was regular competitor and rising teenage threat Grr with his Bane who became the story of this evening, as he helped make this one of the most memorable tournaments in recent weeks.
The turmoil began before Injustice was even onstream, as Grr won his first match and then knocked Arturo Sanchez (who was brandishing this week's newly released DLC, Martian Manhunter) into Losers. After Rico Suave beat Jr.'s improving Flash convincingly in a good first set onstream, Grr was scheduled to face CEO and UFGT champion Christopher Gonzalez in Winners Semis. To the surprise of everyone, Chris G decided to start the set with Solomon Grundy. But Grr hardly allowed Chris to land a single hit in the entire match, finishing Chris with a near-Perfect and causing him to go to Black Adam for the remainder of the set. With Chris playing his normal tourney alternate however, Bane quickly withered under the pressure and had trouble maintaining offense. Chris made a number of key reads, repeatedly punishing Bane's charge with jump-over divekicks into combo and controlling the airspace with BA's j2 to take the next two games and win the set in authoritative fashion. After a fun set between CD Jr. and Arturo which Jr. took 2-0, and a set in Losers which Grr won over a Raven and Shazam player, Jr. and Grr were set to face each other -- and it looked like the Bane player's spirited run might be on the verge of coming to an end.
But RSBC has never been the most predictable of tournaments, and a number of viewers had the sense that something special might be in the air. As the match began Grr made full use of Insurgency's interactibles, pushing Jr. towards the corner and not allowing him any chances to start Flash's deadly mixup game. Although Jr. began to use Flash's quick walk speed to play Street-Fighter-style footsies, the pushback on Bane's blocked Raging Charges kept him constantly out of range, and when Jr. finally tried to meter-burn b3 him on a read, Bane's Venom armor crusied through it and put Jr. down to his last 50% of health. With Jr, struggling to find an awnswer, Grr continued to chip him out with charges and eventually took the match. In Game 2, Grr again started off on a tear, and Jr. lost about 70% life before finding an opening to get away. But per Rico's advice, CD Jr. finally began to use Flash's Speed Dodge to stuff Bane's Raging Charge, granting him a full punish during the recovery. And he was able to make his way in and use Flash's damage to even up the match. With about 40 seconds left, Jr. started turning up the pressure, looking strong as he closed out the match and took the second game.
In Game 3 Jr. looked confident and opened up an early lead, eventually taking Grr's first life bar, going up convincingly in the second half with room to spare, and setting himself up for the win. But Grr continued to stay focused, using Bane's armor to make punishing his strings a guessing game and attacking with splash after splash. With Bane down to his last 25% of life and Jr. having built a full bar of meter, a bait for Super was inevitable, and as Grr went for a charge Jr. reacted, leading Spooky to say "Got him", along with calls from the stream chat to "pack it up". But as onlookers wrote their GGs, to the surprise of everyone, Grr was able to Level 3 Venom and break right through the impact of Flash's Super, leading to a desperate scramble with 20 seconds remaining. As Spooky and Rico reacted on the mic in disbelief, saying "Oh my god" and holding their breath, Grr landed a string midscreen, and then caught Jr. out of the air with a last-second Charge as he tried to jump in anticipation, stealing the game and causing the venue and the stream chat to erupt with cheers and comments of disbelief.
With the chat going nuts and the word going out all over Twitter, and Grr now havig made his way to Losers finals, Chris G and Rico began their Winners Finals set, with Chris playing his Arrow. Rico controlled the action early on, playing patiently, but Chris evened it up towards the end, and Rico narrowlly took game one with a low Lightning. And in Game 2, Rico hit Chris with nearly everything, storming out to a huge lead and quickly taking the match. In Game 3, Chris renewed his concentration, landing a pair of early mixups and punishing an interactible toss to put himself up by a significant margin. With Rico stuck in the corner and unable to get away, Chris continued to harass him with jumping 3, d1, and pressure, forcing Rico to clash and eventually using GA's Fire Arrows to take the win. The next game was hotly contesting and went back and forth, until Rico hit Chris was a meter-burned Lightning towards the end, leaving him with a single pixel of life left, causeing Arturo to say "I think he's done". But with the match on the line, Chris hit rico with a j3 anti-air into d1~freeze, and comboed into Green Arrow's Super to steal the match. The final game opened with the lead going back and forth, but once Rico gained momentum Chris was unable to catch up and Rico closed the set out with plenty of health to spare.
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With the bracket winding down and Grr facing Chris again for his last shot in Losers Finals, viewers were glued to their screens to see what would happen. This time Chris stuck with his Arrow, and he won the first game in stylish fashion, eventually using a Sky Alert to hit Bane out of a splash for a lopsided win. But in Game 2 Grr used Bane's armor to walk though a number of the arrows and tossed GA around, jumping in whenever Chris tried to draw his bow. Chris repeatedly tried to counterpoke against the pressure, but Grr used Bane's armor to negate the d1's and land Bane's midscreen strings, and was able to win while still on his first life bar, causing Chris to switch back to Black Adam. This next match was much closer, with both combatants going tit for tat, but Chris eventually got the match under control and used BA's fullscreen game to chip away at Grr's life with lghtning and punish with divekicks to take the win. Grr opened Game 4 with a commnding lead, but Chris was able to turn the turn the tables and put bane at a sizeable deficit. But as the crowd got hype in the background, Grr made good use of his venom and powered back to a lead, leaving Black Adam 5% away from death. And when Chris tried to jump away, Grr read it an met him in the air to take the match. With the set down to the final game, Chris began to use a hit-and-run game to keep Grr off-guard and open up a giant lead. But Grr went on a furious final run, terrorizing the air and armoring through all of Chris attempts to get away. Chris still had his clash however, and was able to chip Grr out with trait after regaining his HP.
Grand Finals was Rico vs. Chris, and it opened on a good note for Rico as he used BA's strong keepaway game to keep control, winning Game 1 with a life bar to spare. Chris started off Game 2 with a new tactic, using GA's Fire Arrows at the start to keep Rico from being able to set up his long-range offense. Eventually Rico was able to get in, and with Chris down to his last 3% or so he was once again on the ropes; but Chris again used a jumping attack to combo into Super, evening the match at the last second before Rico finished him with a quick lightning. In Game 3, Chris stayed in control the entire way, never allowing Rico to settle in and finishing with a dominant lead. But in the final game Rico made good use of Black Adam's trait plus interactibles to hurt Chris when he moved in, and used lightning and divekicks to punish GA when he attempted to zone, creating a puzzle that kept Chris guessing and allowed Rico to take the match and the 1st place finish.
If this was boxing, Rico Suave would currently be holding the Unified Injustice Championship Belt as he's beaten the winners of most of Injustice's biggest tournaments in back to back weeks. In the FGC however, success is measured in majors; which means that to truly prove his might, Rico will need to secure a win at one of the game's marquee events. With that in mind, all eyes are on Summer Jam, coming up on August 17th, and featuring a lot of the top talent in the East. With great tournaments from The Break, NLBC, WNF and Atlanta Kombat this week, IGAU competition is looking stronger and more exciting than ever as we head into the road ahead.
Top 4:
1) G4C RG Rico Suave (Black Adam)
2) AGE Chris G (Green Arrow, Black Adam, Grundy)
3) Grr (Bane)
4) EMP CD Jr. (Flash)
Stream Archive:
http://www.twitch.tv/teamsp00ky/b/438887523?t=3h1m25s
Bracket:
http://nextlevel.challonge.com/NLBC30INJ
This event has been earning a reputation for upsets and surprising appearances of various characters, and this week was no exception. This week, veteran tourney player and CEO Top 8 placer CD Jr. came down to hop into the mix, playing his new main the Flash, along with Cyborg player RelaxedState. But it was regular competitor and rising teenage threat Grr with his Bane who became the story of this evening, as he helped make this one of the most memorable tournaments in recent weeks.
The turmoil began before Injustice was even onstream, as Grr won his first match and then knocked Arturo Sanchez (who was brandishing this week's newly released DLC, Martian Manhunter) into Losers. After Rico Suave beat Jr.'s improving Flash convincingly in a good first set onstream, Grr was scheduled to face CEO and UFGT champion Christopher Gonzalez in Winners Semis. To the surprise of everyone, Chris G decided to start the set with Solomon Grundy. But Grr hardly allowed Chris to land a single hit in the entire match, finishing Chris with a near-Perfect and causing him to go to Black Adam for the remainder of the set. With Chris playing his normal tourney alternate however, Bane quickly withered under the pressure and had trouble maintaining offense. Chris made a number of key reads, repeatedly punishing Bane's charge with jump-over divekicks into combo and controlling the airspace with BA's j2 to take the next two games and win the set in authoritative fashion. After a fun set between CD Jr. and Arturo which Jr. took 2-0, and a set in Losers which Grr won over a Raven and Shazam player, Jr. and Grr were set to face each other -- and it looked like the Bane player's spirited run might be on the verge of coming to an end.
But RSBC has never been the most predictable of tournaments, and a number of viewers had the sense that something special might be in the air. As the match began Grr made full use of Insurgency's interactibles, pushing Jr. towards the corner and not allowing him any chances to start Flash's deadly mixup game. Although Jr. began to use Flash's quick walk speed to play Street-Fighter-style footsies, the pushback on Bane's blocked Raging Charges kept him constantly out of range, and when Jr. finally tried to meter-burn b3 him on a read, Bane's Venom armor crusied through it and put Jr. down to his last 50% of health. With Jr, struggling to find an awnswer, Grr continued to chip him out with charges and eventually took the match. In Game 2, Grr again started off on a tear, and Jr. lost about 70% life before finding an opening to get away. But per Rico's advice, CD Jr. finally began to use Flash's Speed Dodge to stuff Bane's Raging Charge, granting him a full punish during the recovery. And he was able to make his way in and use Flash's damage to even up the match. With about 40 seconds left, Jr. started turning up the pressure, looking strong as he closed out the match and took the second game.
In Game 3 Jr. looked confident and opened up an early lead, eventually taking Grr's first life bar, going up convincingly in the second half with room to spare, and setting himself up for the win. But Grr continued to stay focused, using Bane's armor to make punishing his strings a guessing game and attacking with splash after splash. With Bane down to his last 25% of life and Jr. having built a full bar of meter, a bait for Super was inevitable, and as Grr went for a charge Jr. reacted, leading Spooky to say "Got him", along with calls from the stream chat to "pack it up". But as onlookers wrote their GGs, to the surprise of everyone, Grr was able to Level 3 Venom and break right through the impact of Flash's Super, leading to a desperate scramble with 20 seconds remaining. As Spooky and Rico reacted on the mic in disbelief, saying "Oh my god" and holding their breath, Grr landed a string midscreen, and then caught Jr. out of the air with a last-second Charge as he tried to jump in anticipation, stealing the game and causing the venue and the stream chat to erupt with cheers and comments of disbelief.
With the chat going nuts and the word going out all over Twitter, and Grr now havig made his way to Losers finals, Chris G and Rico began their Winners Finals set, with Chris playing his Arrow. Rico controlled the action early on, playing patiently, but Chris evened it up towards the end, and Rico narrowlly took game one with a low Lightning. And in Game 2, Rico hit Chris with nearly everything, storming out to a huge lead and quickly taking the match. In Game 3, Chris renewed his concentration, landing a pair of early mixups and punishing an interactible toss to put himself up by a significant margin. With Rico stuck in the corner and unable to get away, Chris continued to harass him with jumping 3, d1, and pressure, forcing Rico to clash and eventually using GA's Fire Arrows to take the win. The next game was hotly contesting and went back and forth, until Rico hit Chris was a meter-burned Lightning towards the end, leaving him with a single pixel of life left, causeing Arturo to say "I think he's done". But with the match on the line, Chris hit rico with a j3 anti-air into d1~freeze, and comboed into Green Arrow's Super to steal the match. The final game opened with the lead going back and forth, but once Rico gained momentum Chris was unable to catch up and Rico closed the set out with plenty of health to spare.
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With the bracket winding down and Grr facing Chris again for his last shot in Losers Finals, viewers were glued to their screens to see what would happen. This time Chris stuck with his Arrow, and he won the first game in stylish fashion, eventually using a Sky Alert to hit Bane out of a splash for a lopsided win. But in Game 2 Grr used Bane's armor to walk though a number of the arrows and tossed GA around, jumping in whenever Chris tried to draw his bow. Chris repeatedly tried to counterpoke against the pressure, but Grr used Bane's armor to negate the d1's and land Bane's midscreen strings, and was able to win while still on his first life bar, causing Chris to switch back to Black Adam. This next match was much closer, with both combatants going tit for tat, but Chris eventually got the match under control and used BA's fullscreen game to chip away at Grr's life with lghtning and punish with divekicks to take the win. Grr opened Game 4 with a commnding lead, but Chris was able to turn the turn the tables and put bane at a sizeable deficit. But as the crowd got hype in the background, Grr made good use of his venom and powered back to a lead, leaving Black Adam 5% away from death. And when Chris tried to jump away, Grr read it an met him in the air to take the match. With the set down to the final game, Chris began to use a hit-and-run game to keep Grr off-guard and open up a giant lead. But Grr went on a furious final run, terrorizing the air and armoring through all of Chris attempts to get away. Chris still had his clash however, and was able to chip Grr out with trait after regaining his HP.
Grand Finals was Rico vs. Chris, and it opened on a good note for Rico as he used BA's strong keepaway game to keep control, winning Game 1 with a life bar to spare. Chris started off Game 2 with a new tactic, using GA's Fire Arrows at the start to keep Rico from being able to set up his long-range offense. Eventually Rico was able to get in, and with Chris down to his last 3% or so he was once again on the ropes; but Chris again used a jumping attack to combo into Super, evening the match at the last second before Rico finished him with a quick lightning. In Game 3, Chris stayed in control the entire way, never allowing Rico to settle in and finishing with a dominant lead. But in the final game Rico made good use of Black Adam's trait plus interactibles to hurt Chris when he moved in, and used lightning and divekicks to punish GA when he attempted to zone, creating a puzzle that kept Chris guessing and allowed Rico to take the match and the 1st place finish.
If this was boxing, Rico Suave would currently be holding the Unified Injustice Championship Belt as he's beaten the winners of most of Injustice's biggest tournaments in back to back weeks. In the FGC however, success is measured in majors; which means that to truly prove his might, Rico will need to secure a win at one of the game's marquee events. With that in mind, all eyes are on Summer Jam, coming up on August 17th, and featuring a lot of the top talent in the East. With great tournaments from The Break, NLBC, WNF and Atlanta Kombat this week, IGAU competition is looking stronger and more exciting than ever as we head into the road ahead.
Top 4:
1) G4C RG Rico Suave (Black Adam)
2) AGE Chris G (Green Arrow, Black Adam, Grundy)
3) Grr (Bane)
4) EMP CD Jr. (Flash)
Stream Archive:
http://www.twitch.tv/teamsp00ky/b/438887523?t=3h1m25s
Bracket:
http://nextlevel.challonge.com/NLBC30INJ
