GamerBlake90
Blue Blurs for Life!
Now first of all, please don't misinterpret the title as my way of stroking my ego over my status as the winner of Texas Bar Fights. There is a very good reason I chose the title, and once you get to the ending of this story thread, you shall understand why.
My cell phone went off with an alarm at 8:15 A.M. on Saturday morning right when I arose from my coffin...okay, my bed, I'm not a fucking vampire. I took ten minutes to regather my senses before rising to my feet and getting ready for the long day ahead of me. For those of you who met me in person, you may recall the Mortal Kombat t-shirt I wore at EVO 2011...well, for an event like a Mortal Kombat tournament, no other garb was more appropriate.
Well, that and jeans that were artistically ripped. C'mon, makes for a badass look!
As I finalized my preparations, I got a text from Bryan (SaibotMK, to clarify) telling me they would be here soon. I was already set to go at the time he texted, so...cheers to my foresight! As I waited for him and Raidenwins to come and fetch me from the place, I decided to down a bit of ice cream so I'd stave off the starvation - not that I ever ate much, anyway. Then I gathered my two PS3 controllers and a PS2 controller - the latter was just in case we were required to use converters - along with some ear buds, a couple of games for my Nintendo DSi, my charger for my cell phone, and my USB cable for my wireless controllers. Couldn't afford to turn up short-handed for a big event like this.
Before I knew it, my cell phone boomed with noise as a call from Raidenwins came in. He told me they were waiting outside. Without any hesitation at all, I slung my Nintendo DSi's case around my neck, scooped up my bag, and joined my two accomplices in their car which then peeled off down the highway.
In case you are wondering, yes, RayboneKilla would join us at this event. He had already set off for Texas during the previous night. We would meet him at the tournament location.
As the clock approached the 11:50 A.M. mark, we found ourselves surprised by how we were already close to our location and we had over a full hour left to be on time. So, as per a suggestion from Raidenwins, we stopped at an IHOP restaurant and ordered ourselves a stocked breakfast. As we sat there awaiting our food, conversation about MK9 and its legends broke out between us, including talks about Slips, RM_Death, REO, Mr. Mileena, and so on.
SaibotMK eventually broached the topic of REO's performance with Kabal in the Devastation event. I excitedly pointed out the godlike frequency of REO's instant-air projectiles and, just for the Hell of it, imitated the character's animation whenever he did a Gas Blast in the air. Now, I would have stood up from my chair and tried jumping backwards in the air to pull that off, but because I obviously couldn't do so in a public restaurant...I had to settle for attempting the animation in the chair. This elicited awkward comments from my two friends, LOL, but I was too hyped to care at the time. Did they think I was trying to emulate having sex or something?
...hey, I'm not that narcissistic! Don't look at me like that. Get back to the fucking story!
Our food came and my friends downed their meals pretty fast while I was still left with about half of my own (damn, I thought I ate pretty fast, but I guess they beat me in that aspect). We didn't have much time to wait on me, however; the clock had reached 12:30 P.M. and we knew we needed to be there at around 1:00 P.M. to sign in for the tournament, so we cut our business there short and got ourselves back on the highway.
Along the way there, we felt ourselves recalling some events back in the Tokyo in Tulsa fiasco from last year (refer to my thread titled "The Story of my First Offline Tourney" for a refresher course on what happened), part of which included me imitating Quan Chi's babble whenever he performed a special move as part of our celebrations for my victory in the event. At first I thought they were talking about his entrance for before a fight began, but they corrected me and, with a drawn-out sigh, I gave them their wish and echoed the gibberish in that deep voice. Sent 'em collapsing into laughter, which encouraged me to add in another line of that hilarious babble through a different variation, sending them into more fits of laughter.
...plus there was a side-order of Liu Kang's loud-as-fuck chicken calls whenever he attacked. I shrieked such a cry out loud and Bryan flinched and said something along the lines of, "Not so loud, man!" I felt apologetic, but amused all the same. I'm not about to pass up on a chance to charge my hype-o-meter - yes, I made that word up - for before a tournament came up.
Another special mention would include Bryan noticing a yellow Viper car passing by our vehicle. Raidenwins and I weren't quite car people, so we had never seen such a model before. We were introduced to details on Bryan's interest in the vehicles.
But apparently we were so deeply engrossed in the conversation, we passed right by the route we were supposed to take to get us to the bar where the tournament would be going down. When my friends took notice of this, Bryan let out a shout of frustration and set about correcting our direction. Upon reaching the desired route, RayboneKilla contacted us and said he had arrived at the bar in Plano. We would soon be there with him, as we were only like between ten or twenty minutes away from getting there.
The last fragments of our conversation dissolved into a talk about driving lessons and the pros and cons of alcohol and weed, which I contributed to myself. Being someone who never quite had the ability to drive a car or ever saw the need for something so unnecessary as the drugs, I couldn't help but voice my curiousity as to how and why others could take interest in such things. They seemed to contribute nothing...by that, I'm talking about the alcohol and weed, not the driving. I did attempt to drive a few times myself, but that was back when I was seventeen and given my...instructors...at the time it happened, you can just guess that it never went well.
Add that to the fact that I nearly crashed a Durango about three years ago by accidentally hitting the gas pedal instead of the brake while trying to back it out of the house's driveway so I could mow the lawn, and you will understand why cars and I do not mesh well. If you don't want a death sentence, do not place me behind the wheel. Take this advice and I promise you will live a productive life.
...I'm getting off-topic now.
Our car finally found itself outside the entrance to the bar. As we groveled onto a parking spot, we took notice of a nearby pizza place situated next to the locale. It was then I decided to bind myself to a promise: if I were to claim victory in the tournament and procure some good money, I would celebrate by buying pizza for all my friends. They jokingly said they would hold me to that promise, but my mind was set. After all, what victory is worth savoring when you do not share it with people who are closely tied to you?
After gathering our belongings and locking the car, we entered the bar. The sight of various gaming stations greeted our gazes, as did a particular set-up nearby the corner where streaming equipment had been prepared. We located the sign-up line and got our fees paid to enter the Mortal Kombat 9 division for $15, then sorted through the stations until we found a group of players exchanging casuals in the game.
My fellow clan member, Crazy_xMyGodx_88, was included among the players. He took notice immediately when I introduced myself and pointed himself out to me, at which point I found myself in shock for a moment before eagerly shaking his hand. He certainly did not look how I envisioned him to appear, a thought which I vocalized to him, and his response was a fit of laughter while another player said that it's pretty common to make inaccurate thoughts on how players appeared before you actually met them.
I was also fortunate enough to be graced by the presence of another fellow MKU contributor named STB EDC Menace, a member of our Media Staff team. Shout-outs to the STB clan! Your representative brought honor to your name.
By sheer coincidence, the station where the tournament would be streamed was situated right next to our MK9 station. Thinking that our game would be streamed, I asked them for the link and they passed it on to me. Then I wasted no time in whipping out my cell phone and texting the link to the MKU staff team so they could attach it to the shoutbox as a sticky note, but this plan became a waste when Brant discovered that MK9 would not be streamed to the Internet public.
This disheartened me a great deal. I asked for more details from the streamers and they explained that they could not figure out how to stream the gameplay from the PS3 consoles, only the Xbox360 ones. This would therefore mean that any games played on PS3 would not be shared on the stream. Add that to the fact that there were only two available stations where we could play MK9, out of a grand total of almost twenty stations no less, and you can just imagine how pissed off I was at how we looked unimportant and miniscule compared to the other games being played at the tournament...but we will cover that later.
Just a note: wireless controllers were indeed allowed at this event, and thank goodness for that. Bryan was the only one in our group with the converter and I was afraid we'd all have to share it. However, there would arise a situation where we would still need to share the pads...
So that I could join the guys in playing casuals, I attempted to sync my black PS3 controller to the station, but found that it would not connect for reasons unknown to me. The controller would flash with the sign that it was being charged, but it refused to sync. I was exasperated! This was the second PS3 I had come across which did not want to register my controller! I tried my blue controller as well, still did not work. I even tried both controllers on the other PS3 nearby and they still refused to sync, but everyone else's controllers would sync just fine. I about got angry and decided I would ask for information on what the Hell was going on when I got back to the forums. Thankfully, our fellow players had controllers for us all to share...maybe I need a new one.
I don't know how much time passed while we were playing casuals, but we were soon jerked back to reality by a tourney organizer announcing the beginning of our tournament. They would call each match from the brackets for each station one at a time to ensure a smooth progression. Immediately we were subjected to the information on the first matches that would go down...I was one of the first to be called to play. Shocked by the rather abrupt summons to a battle, I nevertheless gathered myself and met with my first opponent.
As soon as we finalized our button check and moved to the character select, I chose my character almost subconsciously...Sonya Blade. So much for thinking I should drop her, LOL. My opponent chose Kano and we got right into business. The guy impressed me with how good his defense was, very good indeed. Fortunately, I triumphed and won 2-0.
After reporting our scores, I took a nearby seat and watched the progression of the tournament. RayboneKilla also won his first match to remain in the Winner's Brackets, but Raidenwins and SaibotMK were both sent to the Loser's Brackets in their assigned matches. This was quickly getting to be an interesting start in the event.
Then a sad twist came. Before MyGod could even play his first match, he got a distress call from his wife and had to leave the tournament early. I believe he said something about his family being stranded at a Wal-Mart store. The news depressed me, but I understood his need to attend to his priorities. He flashed an encouraging smile at me and assured me that I had the tournament in the bag. As I watched him leave the station behind, I felt myself mumbling the following statement:
"I won't let you down, MyGod."
The resolution to win the tournament firmly cemented itself into my mind and I turned my attention back to the station. There were times where I would lean forward and distribute advice to the players. You can ask the others who were there with me, they'll attest to this. Eventually it was my turn to fight again, with a Mileena player named ArmageddonFUA11 stepping forward to face me. He was certainly a challenge, definitely gotta give him points. I had to do some heavy adapting to claim the set at 2-0 and advance in the tournament.
Then I watched as Raidenwins came to play his match against his next opponent. He managed to beat the guy's Sub-Zero, but was defeated by the player's Liu Kang. The games were very close, from what I saw. My friend fought with all his heart and that's all that counted.
RayboneKilla took victory in his second match to remain in the Winner's Brackets alongside me, and Bryan managed to best a Kabal player to remain in the tournament. This meant that three of my party were still in the game, and we therefore decided that if one of us won the event, that person would be buying us the pizza. Gotta have some motivation to win, ya know!
My third fight paired me with a deadly Kung Lao player named Coosco (correct spelling?). He certainly had a solid ability to adapt. I was especially worried...I remembered losing to a Kung Lao player at EVO 2011 and my growing hatred of the character. But after managing a comeback and winning at 2-0 yet again, my spirits climbed even higher.
If I remember correctly, Coosco was the Kung Lao player who handed Raybone his first defeat in the event, sending him to Loser's Brackets. So I had some idea of what to expect from him, but the guy still made it rough. Ray had tried breaking out his Reptile and Kabal against that Kung Lao, but kept slipping into patterns that backfired on him. He still put up a valiant fight and had a chance.
Then fate plotted a cruel twist for both Bryan and Raybone. The two were slated to fight one another in their next match. It was upsetting, but we knew there could only be one winner in this entire tournament. I advised Raybone to bring out his Kabal, because I was well aware of how poorly equipped Reptile was to handle a Mileena. But when he lost the first match, Ray cast aside the advice and brought out his Reptile. Much to my surprise, the fight reached three rounds before Bryan triumphed again and eliminated Ray from the tournament, though I still disagreed with the decision to bust out Reptile.
According to Raybone, whenever he was confronted with a Mileena in a tournament, it usually resulted in him either being sent to the Loser's Bracket or getting knocked out of the tournament. I told him I would have Bryan help him work on that match-up for when we practiced again.
There seemed to be a coincidence in the works...Bryan and I had met in the Grand Finals of the Tokyo in Tulsa event. Could it be that we'd become the finalists again? I for one sure hoped so, for reasons I will cover near the end of the story.
Something that just needs to be mentioned: during their first game, Bryan busted out an X-ray combo on Raybone's ass. I commented that the X-ray seemed unnecessary...then decided to seize the opportunity. Wait for it...
"X-RAY THAT BIIIITCH!"
C'mon, you know I had to!
Unfortunately, a different outcome was in the works. Bryan was defeated 2-1 in his next match by, coincidentally enough, a Reptile player. Bryan had taken the first game quite convincingly, but his opponent managed to decipher his style and come out ahead. This was quite a surprising upset, and it also left me with a grim realization...I was the only one in my group still fighting in the tournament, and in the Winner's Bracket no less. But I refused to let all our efforts be for nothing. I had stuck with Sonya for the entire event and we had made it this far. We could not blow it now.
My fourth opponent soon came to face me. His name was NaWfDaLlAs23. These were to be the Winner's Finals, where I would have to win a three-out-of-five set to advance. He first started with breaking out his Quan Chi against his Sonya, but thanks to the fact that I had paid attention to what he did against the Reptile player he had beaten, I was prepared and took him down.
NaWfDaLlAs23 decided to switch to Cyrax in the next match. It came down to a three-rounder with both of us having very little health left, and again I managed to pull through. Finally he busted out Baraka, and while I was impressed by what he had to offer with the Tarkatan, the third fight ended in my victory, resulting in a score of 3-0 in my favor.
I had managed to reach the Grand Finals...my goal was near. I was amazed with myself. I had not lost a set, let alone a single fight, by the time I had reached this point. This was just unreal. What was going on?
Now all that remained was for the rest of the players in the Loser's Bracket to battle it out until only one player was left so that the Grand Finals could commence. During this time, I held some more practice casuals to keep myself ready. I was in the middle of some games with Zoidberg's Baraka, when Coosco approached me and told me that he was my final opponent. This took me by surprise because I did not even hear an announcement of who would be paired with me in the Grand Finals. Why was this the case, I wonder?
I apologized to him for keeping him waiting and he answered that it was no problem because he was in the middle of a money match. We then took our positions and got ready for what would be the final battle of the night. Because I was the only player remaining in the Winner's Bracket, I only needed to take one set of three-out-of-five in order to win the whole thing. Coosco, on the other hand, would need to reset the set with one victory and then win again to take this event.
We picked our characters and almost got started, but Bryan stopped us so he could set up a camera to capture footage of the Grand Finals. What with our event not being streamed and all, he felt that a memory of this tournament was absolutely needed. The rest of us agreed with him.
Below are those fights that Bryan recorded from his phone. I apologize for the quality on his behalf, but here you go. Bear in mind, I am Sonya Blade and Coosco is Kung Lao.
The arm lifting up at the end is me imitating an uppercut as I perform a stage fatality to close the set at 3-1. I embraced each of my friends in hugs before turning back towards the station and shouting with pride, "Oklahoma is not weak...we are strong!"
My prizes included 70% of the entry fees paid by the players, amounting to $119 in this case, as well as a plaque with a drawn picture of Scorpion, with Ken and Ryu at the side sharing a beer. Here is a photo of that plaque:
http://i1161.photobucket.com/albums/q504/GamerBlake90/Myplaque001.jpg
Pretty sick, huh?! The other MK9 participants certainly agreed. I'm going to get this hanged on the wall in my room soon.
For those who are curious, these are the final results of the MK9 tournament in Texas Bar Fights 7. Credits to Zoidberg for the information:
http://www.testyourmight.com/threads/texas-bar-fights-7-results.14420/
Even after the conclusion of the tournament, we decided to stay for a half-hour longer for one last bit of casuals before we took our leave. I finally got the pleasure of playing STB EDC Menace. Man, did he keep me busy. Then I had some rematches with ArmageddonFUA11, although it was on a pad I wasn't quite comfortable with, but everyone else had taken their pads with them, so...bleh.
The casuals ended at last, and I, Bryan, and Raidenwins met outside the bar. I noticed Raybone was not with us. Clearly he had to leave early. That sucked, because as the three of us agreed, our group is not complete without him. Regardless, I made clear on my promise to buy pizza for us all, using my winnings. They asked me if I was certain, and I told them this:
"I promised you all that we would celebrate, and I am keeping good on my word. What point exists in a victory if you don't have people to share it with?"
We entered the pizza place next to the bar, only to discover that they were closing down and we could not place our orders. It appeared we would have to take our victory celebrations elsewhere. We stopped at a nearby Subway and prepared to wait in the line, but then we changed our minds when we took notice of a nearby Pizza Hut restaurant and decided we'd hit it up instead.
On the way, we found a small place called Mama's Pizza (weird name, I know) and we decided to try it out instead. But our irritation climbed when we learned that the place was closed down in terms of eating in and we'd only be able to place to-go orders. Bryan attempted to appeal to the cashier, explaining how we were looking for a place to celebrate my victory in Texas Bar Fights, but the man kept this blank look on his face and just said that they were closed. Another option shut down...
As the three of us guided ourselves to the car again, Bryan exploded into a rant about how the man did not care for his job in the least, how the guy lacked passion and was just there for the sake of a job. He wouldn't get far with an attitude like that. I had to agree with Bryan on that.
We went straight to the Pizza Hut that we had aimed for earlier, but found that - again - it was not a place where we could eat inside. Our patience was reaching their limits. Did the Elder Gods not want us to celebrate our win or something?! Cut us a break, dammit!
...no sooner had I made that mental plea did we luck out at Braum's. We ordered our meals there and ate inside. As promised, I paid the full price of all three of our orders. Wasn't gonna take "no" for an answer. Whilst we filled our stomachs, Bryan showed us the video he had recorded where I won in the Grand Finals. He would post that clip during the next day so I could share it in the story I would bring to you guys like how I am doing now.
We passed the rest of our mealtime by discussing the concept of mirror matches. Bryan and Raidenwins both voiced their apparent distaste of such fights, particularly with Raiden and Mileena. I myself see them as a test of how well we take into account the strengths and weaknesses of our characters, as well as the opportunity to see how different styles with a character can compare. But I guess I understood their irritation, given their main characters. I've had other players from the forums telling me that mirror matches are complete shit.
I also took this opportunity to voice my displeasure about the treatment MK9 received in this local event. Let it be clear that as someone who has devoted himself to this community, I don't tolerate insults to our efforts to support the game. We had only two stations, our game wasn't streamed, and to top it all off, we had told them that MyGod had to leave the event early due to a family emergency, but like five minutes after he left, we got an announcement about awaiting the outcome of MyGod's assigned match! I don't mean to be a dick, but do people not pay attention or something?
Now, if they truly could not figure out how to stream the PS3 games, then I can't be so unfair about it. I have no reason to doubt that they tried all they could. Running these tournaments is not an easy feat, and we still did have an impressive turnout of great players. But I still feel like it was a slap in the face, because the longer the tournament went on, the longer it took for our MK9 brackets to be announced. We've had to wait for like ten, twenty, maybe thirty minutes or so until we were told who we would be playing next, while all the other games got over twice as much attention as MK9 did. It felt like our game held no priority at all.
I...am not amused by this. No way will I allow our community to be swept aside like this. We've worked too hard to get ourselves out there! I should think we deserve as much priority as all the other gaming communities.
Okay, rant over.
I believe it was close to 10:00 P.M. when we left Braum's and departed on our route back to Oklahoma. About halfway along the journey, I spoke of how I wanted to face Brian again in the Grand Finals because ever since the ending of Tokyo in Tulsa, I've always had this question burning inside of me...
Tokyo in Tulsa had been run like total shit. I was nearly kicked because they didn't put my name in the brackets, so someone stepped in and gave me his spot to save me from losing my chance. Then I lost to Bryan and was sent to Loser's Brackets, but when we crossed paths in the Grand Finals, I only had to win one three-out-of-five set to win the whole thing. As Tom Brady explained to me, the rule was that I had to reset the set by winning a three-out-of-five, and then winning another set to take the whole tournament. Ever since I realized this, I felt my victory held no value. Bryan and I were both dealt a sour deal.
As such, I wanted to see if I truly had won my victory. The chance to play that same Mileena player who nearly beat me last year would have answered my question. But Bryan responded by saying I had won fair and square and would have beaten him even if Tokyo in Tulsa had followed the proper rules. He noted that my passion for the game was like nothing he had ever seen, and that it far outstripped his own as well as that of many other players. I felt Bryan possessed just as much heart for the game, because I watched how he had trained and worked so hard just to meet with me in the Grand Finals of Texas Bar Fights 7.
The deep discussion gave birth to a question that I now want to pose to everyone who reads this story...the reason behind the title of this thread. Something we all need to think about.
What do you feel makes a champion? Of all the possible factors, what is the one that stands out the most, the one that contributes to your chances of becoming a champion, to achieve the goals that you desire?
There are many answers that people can give to a question like this, but are any of them the right answer? Or are they the wrong answer? Or...is there just no answer to such a question? Is it simply luck that a player outstrips all the others in an event to become a winner?
Here's my answer that I can think of...
"Patterns or not, losses or wins, strategies or not...no matter what factors one may have, there's something that can really determine a player's fate, change him in both skill and character. That one thing will always be the core of that player...it is how much that player wants to win. You have to reach for it and never stop fighting. Otherwise, all the improvements you can make upon yourself will mean nothing if there is no meaning in this goal you supposedly work for."
In short, my answer was that a player's desire to transcend his limits and reach for that victory made all the difference in the world. Do you think this might be true? Or is there more to what makes a champion? Again, is there even a straight answer to a question such as this?
In closing this story, I'd like you all to give it some thought. It might be something worth thinking about, especially if you have big dreams in being a professional gamer like how I do.
Thanks for taking a large amount of your time to read my story, and thanks to all those who stood behind me as I fought for my win! Look out for me in Texas Showdown and hopefully Major League Gaming!
My cell phone went off with an alarm at 8:15 A.M. on Saturday morning right when I arose from my coffin...okay, my bed, I'm not a fucking vampire. I took ten minutes to regather my senses before rising to my feet and getting ready for the long day ahead of me. For those of you who met me in person, you may recall the Mortal Kombat t-shirt I wore at EVO 2011...well, for an event like a Mortal Kombat tournament, no other garb was more appropriate.
Well, that and jeans that were artistically ripped. C'mon, makes for a badass look!
As I finalized my preparations, I got a text from Bryan (SaibotMK, to clarify) telling me they would be here soon. I was already set to go at the time he texted, so...cheers to my foresight! As I waited for him and Raidenwins to come and fetch me from the place, I decided to down a bit of ice cream so I'd stave off the starvation - not that I ever ate much, anyway. Then I gathered my two PS3 controllers and a PS2 controller - the latter was just in case we were required to use converters - along with some ear buds, a couple of games for my Nintendo DSi, my charger for my cell phone, and my USB cable for my wireless controllers. Couldn't afford to turn up short-handed for a big event like this.
Before I knew it, my cell phone boomed with noise as a call from Raidenwins came in. He told me they were waiting outside. Without any hesitation at all, I slung my Nintendo DSi's case around my neck, scooped up my bag, and joined my two accomplices in their car which then peeled off down the highway.
In case you are wondering, yes, RayboneKilla would join us at this event. He had already set off for Texas during the previous night. We would meet him at the tournament location.
As the clock approached the 11:50 A.M. mark, we found ourselves surprised by how we were already close to our location and we had over a full hour left to be on time. So, as per a suggestion from Raidenwins, we stopped at an IHOP restaurant and ordered ourselves a stocked breakfast. As we sat there awaiting our food, conversation about MK9 and its legends broke out between us, including talks about Slips, RM_Death, REO, Mr. Mileena, and so on.
SaibotMK eventually broached the topic of REO's performance with Kabal in the Devastation event. I excitedly pointed out the godlike frequency of REO's instant-air projectiles and, just for the Hell of it, imitated the character's animation whenever he did a Gas Blast in the air. Now, I would have stood up from my chair and tried jumping backwards in the air to pull that off, but because I obviously couldn't do so in a public restaurant...I had to settle for attempting the animation in the chair. This elicited awkward comments from my two friends, LOL, but I was too hyped to care at the time. Did they think I was trying to emulate having sex or something?
...hey, I'm not that narcissistic! Don't look at me like that. Get back to the fucking story!
Our food came and my friends downed their meals pretty fast while I was still left with about half of my own (damn, I thought I ate pretty fast, but I guess they beat me in that aspect). We didn't have much time to wait on me, however; the clock had reached 12:30 P.M. and we knew we needed to be there at around 1:00 P.M. to sign in for the tournament, so we cut our business there short and got ourselves back on the highway.
Along the way there, we felt ourselves recalling some events back in the Tokyo in Tulsa fiasco from last year (refer to my thread titled "The Story of my First Offline Tourney" for a refresher course on what happened), part of which included me imitating Quan Chi's babble whenever he performed a special move as part of our celebrations for my victory in the event. At first I thought they were talking about his entrance for before a fight began, but they corrected me and, with a drawn-out sigh, I gave them their wish and echoed the gibberish in that deep voice. Sent 'em collapsing into laughter, which encouraged me to add in another line of that hilarious babble through a different variation, sending them into more fits of laughter.
...plus there was a side-order of Liu Kang's loud-as-fuck chicken calls whenever he attacked. I shrieked such a cry out loud and Bryan flinched and said something along the lines of, "Not so loud, man!" I felt apologetic, but amused all the same. I'm not about to pass up on a chance to charge my hype-o-meter - yes, I made that word up - for before a tournament came up.
Another special mention would include Bryan noticing a yellow Viper car passing by our vehicle. Raidenwins and I weren't quite car people, so we had never seen such a model before. We were introduced to details on Bryan's interest in the vehicles.
But apparently we were so deeply engrossed in the conversation, we passed right by the route we were supposed to take to get us to the bar where the tournament would be going down. When my friends took notice of this, Bryan let out a shout of frustration and set about correcting our direction. Upon reaching the desired route, RayboneKilla contacted us and said he had arrived at the bar in Plano. We would soon be there with him, as we were only like between ten or twenty minutes away from getting there.
The last fragments of our conversation dissolved into a talk about driving lessons and the pros and cons of alcohol and weed, which I contributed to myself. Being someone who never quite had the ability to drive a car or ever saw the need for something so unnecessary as the drugs, I couldn't help but voice my curiousity as to how and why others could take interest in such things. They seemed to contribute nothing...by that, I'm talking about the alcohol and weed, not the driving. I did attempt to drive a few times myself, but that was back when I was seventeen and given my...instructors...at the time it happened, you can just guess that it never went well.
Add that to the fact that I nearly crashed a Durango about three years ago by accidentally hitting the gas pedal instead of the brake while trying to back it out of the house's driveway so I could mow the lawn, and you will understand why cars and I do not mesh well. If you don't want a death sentence, do not place me behind the wheel. Take this advice and I promise you will live a productive life.
...I'm getting off-topic now.
Our car finally found itself outside the entrance to the bar. As we groveled onto a parking spot, we took notice of a nearby pizza place situated next to the locale. It was then I decided to bind myself to a promise: if I were to claim victory in the tournament and procure some good money, I would celebrate by buying pizza for all my friends. They jokingly said they would hold me to that promise, but my mind was set. After all, what victory is worth savoring when you do not share it with people who are closely tied to you?
After gathering our belongings and locking the car, we entered the bar. The sight of various gaming stations greeted our gazes, as did a particular set-up nearby the corner where streaming equipment had been prepared. We located the sign-up line and got our fees paid to enter the Mortal Kombat 9 division for $15, then sorted through the stations until we found a group of players exchanging casuals in the game.
My fellow clan member, Crazy_xMyGodx_88, was included among the players. He took notice immediately when I introduced myself and pointed himself out to me, at which point I found myself in shock for a moment before eagerly shaking his hand. He certainly did not look how I envisioned him to appear, a thought which I vocalized to him, and his response was a fit of laughter while another player said that it's pretty common to make inaccurate thoughts on how players appeared before you actually met them.
I was also fortunate enough to be graced by the presence of another fellow MKU contributor named STB EDC Menace, a member of our Media Staff team. Shout-outs to the STB clan! Your representative brought honor to your name.
By sheer coincidence, the station where the tournament would be streamed was situated right next to our MK9 station. Thinking that our game would be streamed, I asked them for the link and they passed it on to me. Then I wasted no time in whipping out my cell phone and texting the link to the MKU staff team so they could attach it to the shoutbox as a sticky note, but this plan became a waste when Brant discovered that MK9 would not be streamed to the Internet public.
This disheartened me a great deal. I asked for more details from the streamers and they explained that they could not figure out how to stream the gameplay from the PS3 consoles, only the Xbox360 ones. This would therefore mean that any games played on PS3 would not be shared on the stream. Add that to the fact that there were only two available stations where we could play MK9, out of a grand total of almost twenty stations no less, and you can just imagine how pissed off I was at how we looked unimportant and miniscule compared to the other games being played at the tournament...but we will cover that later.
Just a note: wireless controllers were indeed allowed at this event, and thank goodness for that. Bryan was the only one in our group with the converter and I was afraid we'd all have to share it. However, there would arise a situation where we would still need to share the pads...
So that I could join the guys in playing casuals, I attempted to sync my black PS3 controller to the station, but found that it would not connect for reasons unknown to me. The controller would flash with the sign that it was being charged, but it refused to sync. I was exasperated! This was the second PS3 I had come across which did not want to register my controller! I tried my blue controller as well, still did not work. I even tried both controllers on the other PS3 nearby and they still refused to sync, but everyone else's controllers would sync just fine. I about got angry and decided I would ask for information on what the Hell was going on when I got back to the forums. Thankfully, our fellow players had controllers for us all to share...maybe I need a new one.
I don't know how much time passed while we were playing casuals, but we were soon jerked back to reality by a tourney organizer announcing the beginning of our tournament. They would call each match from the brackets for each station one at a time to ensure a smooth progression. Immediately we were subjected to the information on the first matches that would go down...I was one of the first to be called to play. Shocked by the rather abrupt summons to a battle, I nevertheless gathered myself and met with my first opponent.
As soon as we finalized our button check and moved to the character select, I chose my character almost subconsciously...Sonya Blade. So much for thinking I should drop her, LOL. My opponent chose Kano and we got right into business. The guy impressed me with how good his defense was, very good indeed. Fortunately, I triumphed and won 2-0.
After reporting our scores, I took a nearby seat and watched the progression of the tournament. RayboneKilla also won his first match to remain in the Winner's Brackets, but Raidenwins and SaibotMK were both sent to the Loser's Brackets in their assigned matches. This was quickly getting to be an interesting start in the event.
Then a sad twist came. Before MyGod could even play his first match, he got a distress call from his wife and had to leave the tournament early. I believe he said something about his family being stranded at a Wal-Mart store. The news depressed me, but I understood his need to attend to his priorities. He flashed an encouraging smile at me and assured me that I had the tournament in the bag. As I watched him leave the station behind, I felt myself mumbling the following statement:
"I won't let you down, MyGod."
The resolution to win the tournament firmly cemented itself into my mind and I turned my attention back to the station. There were times where I would lean forward and distribute advice to the players. You can ask the others who were there with me, they'll attest to this. Eventually it was my turn to fight again, with a Mileena player named ArmageddonFUA11 stepping forward to face me. He was certainly a challenge, definitely gotta give him points. I had to do some heavy adapting to claim the set at 2-0 and advance in the tournament.
Then I watched as Raidenwins came to play his match against his next opponent. He managed to beat the guy's Sub-Zero, but was defeated by the player's Liu Kang. The games were very close, from what I saw. My friend fought with all his heart and that's all that counted.
RayboneKilla took victory in his second match to remain in the Winner's Brackets alongside me, and Bryan managed to best a Kabal player to remain in the tournament. This meant that three of my party were still in the game, and we therefore decided that if one of us won the event, that person would be buying us the pizza. Gotta have some motivation to win, ya know!
My third fight paired me with a deadly Kung Lao player named Coosco (correct spelling?). He certainly had a solid ability to adapt. I was especially worried...I remembered losing to a Kung Lao player at EVO 2011 and my growing hatred of the character. But after managing a comeback and winning at 2-0 yet again, my spirits climbed even higher.
If I remember correctly, Coosco was the Kung Lao player who handed Raybone his first defeat in the event, sending him to Loser's Brackets. So I had some idea of what to expect from him, but the guy still made it rough. Ray had tried breaking out his Reptile and Kabal against that Kung Lao, but kept slipping into patterns that backfired on him. He still put up a valiant fight and had a chance.
Then fate plotted a cruel twist for both Bryan and Raybone. The two were slated to fight one another in their next match. It was upsetting, but we knew there could only be one winner in this entire tournament. I advised Raybone to bring out his Kabal, because I was well aware of how poorly equipped Reptile was to handle a Mileena. But when he lost the first match, Ray cast aside the advice and brought out his Reptile. Much to my surprise, the fight reached three rounds before Bryan triumphed again and eliminated Ray from the tournament, though I still disagreed with the decision to bust out Reptile.
According to Raybone, whenever he was confronted with a Mileena in a tournament, it usually resulted in him either being sent to the Loser's Bracket or getting knocked out of the tournament. I told him I would have Bryan help him work on that match-up for when we practiced again.
There seemed to be a coincidence in the works...Bryan and I had met in the Grand Finals of the Tokyo in Tulsa event. Could it be that we'd become the finalists again? I for one sure hoped so, for reasons I will cover near the end of the story.
Something that just needs to be mentioned: during their first game, Bryan busted out an X-ray combo on Raybone's ass. I commented that the X-ray seemed unnecessary...then decided to seize the opportunity. Wait for it...
"X-RAY THAT BIIIITCH!"
C'mon, you know I had to!
Unfortunately, a different outcome was in the works. Bryan was defeated 2-1 in his next match by, coincidentally enough, a Reptile player. Bryan had taken the first game quite convincingly, but his opponent managed to decipher his style and come out ahead. This was quite a surprising upset, and it also left me with a grim realization...I was the only one in my group still fighting in the tournament, and in the Winner's Bracket no less. But I refused to let all our efforts be for nothing. I had stuck with Sonya for the entire event and we had made it this far. We could not blow it now.
My fourth opponent soon came to face me. His name was NaWfDaLlAs23. These were to be the Winner's Finals, where I would have to win a three-out-of-five set to advance. He first started with breaking out his Quan Chi against his Sonya, but thanks to the fact that I had paid attention to what he did against the Reptile player he had beaten, I was prepared and took him down.
NaWfDaLlAs23 decided to switch to Cyrax in the next match. It came down to a three-rounder with both of us having very little health left, and again I managed to pull through. Finally he busted out Baraka, and while I was impressed by what he had to offer with the Tarkatan, the third fight ended in my victory, resulting in a score of 3-0 in my favor.
I had managed to reach the Grand Finals...my goal was near. I was amazed with myself. I had not lost a set, let alone a single fight, by the time I had reached this point. This was just unreal. What was going on?
Now all that remained was for the rest of the players in the Loser's Bracket to battle it out until only one player was left so that the Grand Finals could commence. During this time, I held some more practice casuals to keep myself ready. I was in the middle of some games with Zoidberg's Baraka, when Coosco approached me and told me that he was my final opponent. This took me by surprise because I did not even hear an announcement of who would be paired with me in the Grand Finals. Why was this the case, I wonder?
I apologized to him for keeping him waiting and he answered that it was no problem because he was in the middle of a money match. We then took our positions and got ready for what would be the final battle of the night. Because I was the only player remaining in the Winner's Bracket, I only needed to take one set of three-out-of-five in order to win the whole thing. Coosco, on the other hand, would need to reset the set with one victory and then win again to take this event.
We picked our characters and almost got started, but Bryan stopped us so he could set up a camera to capture footage of the Grand Finals. What with our event not being streamed and all, he felt that a memory of this tournament was absolutely needed. The rest of us agreed with him.
Below are those fights that Bryan recorded from his phone. I apologize for the quality on his behalf, but here you go. Bear in mind, I am Sonya Blade and Coosco is Kung Lao.
The arm lifting up at the end is me imitating an uppercut as I perform a stage fatality to close the set at 3-1.
I embraced each of my friends in hugs before turning back towards the station and shouting with pride, "Oklahoma is not weak...we are strong!"My prizes included 70% of the entry fees paid by the players, amounting to $119 in this case, as well as a plaque with a drawn picture of Scorpion, with Ken and Ryu at the side sharing a beer. Here is a photo of that plaque:
http://i1161.photobucket.com/albums/q504/GamerBlake90/Myplaque001.jpg
Pretty sick, huh?! The other MK9 participants certainly agreed. I'm going to get this hanged on the wall in my room soon.
For those who are curious, these are the final results of the MK9 tournament in Texas Bar Fights 7. Credits to Zoidberg for the information:
http://www.testyourmight.com/threads/texas-bar-fights-7-results.14420/
Even after the conclusion of the tournament, we decided to stay for a half-hour longer for one last bit of casuals before we took our leave. I finally got the pleasure of playing STB EDC Menace. Man, did he keep me busy. Then I had some rematches with ArmageddonFUA11, although it was on a pad I wasn't quite comfortable with, but everyone else had taken their pads with them, so...bleh.
The casuals ended at last, and I, Bryan, and Raidenwins met outside the bar. I noticed Raybone was not with us. Clearly he had to leave early. That sucked, because as the three of us agreed, our group is not complete without him. Regardless, I made clear on my promise to buy pizza for us all, using my winnings. They asked me if I was certain, and I told them this:
"I promised you all that we would celebrate, and I am keeping good on my word. What point exists in a victory if you don't have people to share it with?"
We entered the pizza place next to the bar, only to discover that they were closing down and we could not place our orders. It appeared we would have to take our victory celebrations elsewhere. We stopped at a nearby Subway and prepared to wait in the line, but then we changed our minds when we took notice of a nearby Pizza Hut restaurant and decided we'd hit it up instead.
On the way, we found a small place called Mama's Pizza (weird name, I know) and we decided to try it out instead. But our irritation climbed when we learned that the place was closed down in terms of eating in and we'd only be able to place to-go orders. Bryan attempted to appeal to the cashier, explaining how we were looking for a place to celebrate my victory in Texas Bar Fights, but the man kept this blank look on his face and just said that they were closed. Another option shut down...
As the three of us guided ourselves to the car again, Bryan exploded into a rant about how the man did not care for his job in the least, how the guy lacked passion and was just there for the sake of a job. He wouldn't get far with an attitude like that. I had to agree with Bryan on that.
We went straight to the Pizza Hut that we had aimed for earlier, but found that - again - it was not a place where we could eat inside. Our patience was reaching their limits. Did the Elder Gods not want us to celebrate our win or something?! Cut us a break, dammit!
...no sooner had I made that mental plea did we luck out at Braum's. We ordered our meals there and ate inside. As promised, I paid the full price of all three of our orders. Wasn't gonna take "no" for an answer. Whilst we filled our stomachs, Bryan showed us the video he had recorded where I won in the Grand Finals. He would post that clip during the next day so I could share it in the story I would bring to you guys like how I am doing now.
We passed the rest of our mealtime by discussing the concept of mirror matches. Bryan and Raidenwins both voiced their apparent distaste of such fights, particularly with Raiden and Mileena. I myself see them as a test of how well we take into account the strengths and weaknesses of our characters, as well as the opportunity to see how different styles with a character can compare. But I guess I understood their irritation, given their main characters. I've had other players from the forums telling me that mirror matches are complete shit.
I also took this opportunity to voice my displeasure about the treatment MK9 received in this local event. Let it be clear that as someone who has devoted himself to this community, I don't tolerate insults to our efforts to support the game. We had only two stations, our game wasn't streamed, and to top it all off, we had told them that MyGod had to leave the event early due to a family emergency, but like five minutes after he left, we got an announcement about awaiting the outcome of MyGod's assigned match! I don't mean to be a dick, but do people not pay attention or something?
Now, if they truly could not figure out how to stream the PS3 games, then I can't be so unfair about it. I have no reason to doubt that they tried all they could. Running these tournaments is not an easy feat, and we still did have an impressive turnout of great players. But I still feel like it was a slap in the face, because the longer the tournament went on, the longer it took for our MK9 brackets to be announced. We've had to wait for like ten, twenty, maybe thirty minutes or so until we were told who we would be playing next, while all the other games got over twice as much attention as MK9 did. It felt like our game held no priority at all.
I...am not amused by this. No way will I allow our community to be swept aside like this. We've worked too hard to get ourselves out there! I should think we deserve as much priority as all the other gaming communities.
Okay, rant over.
I believe it was close to 10:00 P.M. when we left Braum's and departed on our route back to Oklahoma. About halfway along the journey, I spoke of how I wanted to face Brian again in the Grand Finals because ever since the ending of Tokyo in Tulsa, I've always had this question burning inside of me...
Tokyo in Tulsa had been run like total shit. I was nearly kicked because they didn't put my name in the brackets, so someone stepped in and gave me his spot to save me from losing my chance. Then I lost to Bryan and was sent to Loser's Brackets, but when we crossed paths in the Grand Finals, I only had to win one three-out-of-five set to win the whole thing. As Tom Brady explained to me, the rule was that I had to reset the set by winning a three-out-of-five, and then winning another set to take the whole tournament. Ever since I realized this, I felt my victory held no value. Bryan and I were both dealt a sour deal.
As such, I wanted to see if I truly had won my victory. The chance to play that same Mileena player who nearly beat me last year would have answered my question. But Bryan responded by saying I had won fair and square and would have beaten him even if Tokyo in Tulsa had followed the proper rules. He noted that my passion for the game was like nothing he had ever seen, and that it far outstripped his own as well as that of many other players. I felt Bryan possessed just as much heart for the game, because I watched how he had trained and worked so hard just to meet with me in the Grand Finals of Texas Bar Fights 7.
The deep discussion gave birth to a question that I now want to pose to everyone who reads this story...the reason behind the title of this thread. Something we all need to think about.
What do you feel makes a champion? Of all the possible factors, what is the one that stands out the most, the one that contributes to your chances of becoming a champion, to achieve the goals that you desire?
There are many answers that people can give to a question like this, but are any of them the right answer? Or are they the wrong answer? Or...is there just no answer to such a question? Is it simply luck that a player outstrips all the others in an event to become a winner?
Here's my answer that I can think of...
"Patterns or not, losses or wins, strategies or not...no matter what factors one may have, there's something that can really determine a player's fate, change him in both skill and character. That one thing will always be the core of that player...it is how much that player wants to win. You have to reach for it and never stop fighting. Otherwise, all the improvements you can make upon yourself will mean nothing if there is no meaning in this goal you supposedly work for."
In short, my answer was that a player's desire to transcend his limits and reach for that victory made all the difference in the world. Do you think this might be true? Or is there more to what makes a champion? Again, is there even a straight answer to a question such as this?
In closing this story, I'd like you all to give it some thought. It might be something worth thinking about, especially if you have big dreams in being a professional gamer like how I do.
Thanks for taking a large amount of your time to read my story, and thanks to all those who stood behind me as I fought for my win! Look out for me in Texas Showdown and hopefully Major League Gaming!
