Combo Breaker MKX Top 8 and Results

[HellblazerHawkman]

DAY 2 MY DUDE! Combo Breaker 2018 is onto another day of hype matches, with today's NRS affairs taking us over to MKX. With Aquaman and Ketchup on mic, and a lot of VARIATION (hahahahahahaha) from the players, this was another amazing Top 8 for the 7,500+ fans watching the stream.

A Top 8 which was comprised of:

Winners
Echo Fox Scar vs. Noble Rewind
NASR Tekken Master vs. Killer Xinok

Losers
Coosco vs. A F0xy Grampa
DS Waz vs. Damaja

As usual, click that spoiler for the breakdown and results. Otherwise, swing by Netherrealm's Twitch for the archive. Still have Injustice 2 later tonight, so stay tuned to both Twitch and TYM for updates!

Spoiler

Our first match in Winners was Scar vs Rewind. After losing game 1 to Scar's Smoke, Rewind swapped out Raiden for Cassie Cage, a move that ended up winning him games 2 and 3. Despite some impressive gameplay from Scar, Rewind ran away with the set 3-1.

Next came Tekken Master up against Xinok. Shinnok vs Tremor, a match that was going to determine whether or not Mortal Kombat: Special Forces truly has the power to defeat an Elder God. The answer was apparently yes, as TM lost round one, opting to switch over to D'vorrah for the next game. Unfortunately, it didn't do him much good and Xinok squashed Tekken Master 3-0 and advanced into Winners Finals.

On to losers, A F0xy Grampa played Coosco; the UK against America, Kung Lao against Sonya Blade. Looking the same as he did during MKX's heyday, dominating Coosco in game 1. Not looking to disappoint the American heavy crowd, Coosco took game 2 and pushed F0xy into switching over to Mileena. Change didn't do him much good though, Coosco took game 3 and put himself at match point. In a clutch game 4, F0xy almost secured a win, but Coosco closed things out 3-1 and knocked F0xy out of the Top 8.

Up next was Waz vs. Damaja. Going with a character that best matches the Australian wildlife, Waz played D'vorrah against Damaja's Mileena. In a long back and forth game one, Damaja took game 1. Not to let himself get outplayed, Waz made an impressive comeback in game 2, round 2 to take his first win of the set. Building from that momentum, Waz was able to just run away with things and won this set 3-1, sending Damaja out of the bracket.

Into the next stage of the bracket, Tekken Master faced off against Coosco. TM opened up with Shinnok once again, Coosco stuck with his girl Sonya. Despite some good reads by Coosco, TM ran away with the first 2 games, making it seem like he'd be taking the set 3-0. However, after a 2 game streak ending with a Brutality, TM was forced to take a breather to readjust his gameplan. In the end, Tekken Master won 3-2 in the last round of game 5.

Into the next stage of the bracket, Scar played Waz. Sticking with Smoke, he seemed to be making a play to determine whether whatever D'vorrah is could be put to sleep with smoke. Game 1 closed with a sudden X-ray by Waz, making Scar mash that "rematch" button faster than my offline career ended. After another win, Scar decided to swap out Smoke for Sonya, finally taking a game and preventing himself from being 3-0'd. Scar carried that momentum from the character swap straight to victory, and won 3-2 over Waz.

Next up with Rewind vs. Xinok. in Winners Finals. Rewind brought up Jacqui for the first time this Top 8 against Xinok's Tremor. That didn't appear to be the best decision on Rewind's part, as he decide to swap out for Liu Kang the first opportunity he had. It was at this point that my motel's wi-fi cut out (long story) and I didn't actually see anything else that happened, but Smash.gg assures me that Xinok won 3-1 with Tremor over Rewind.

Fighting for a spot in Losers Finals was Tekken Master (D'vorrah) against Scar (back to Smoke). Scar mix-up'd his way to a game 1 victory, forcing TM back to Shinnok, the character that helped get him this far in the tourney. The change helped him get a game on the board, but Scar was not going to miss the opportunity for a runback against Rewind and won the set 3-1.

In a rewind of their earlier set, Rewind pulled out Cassie Cage once more against Scar's Smoke. Rewind came out swinging for this game, keeping Scar locked down in the corner for most of the first two rounds. Not looking to give him any ground, Scar stayed calm and made him work for the game 1 win. Going into game 2, Scar came out the winner of the first round, still keeping his cool and waiting for Rewind to make an opening (a failed Shao Kahn hammer grab) to secure the first win. Without skipping a beat, Rewind went right back at it, throwing Scar back in the corner and matching him round for round. Moving things back to better ground, Scar was able to take the final round, tying things up 1-1. In game 3, Scar started to apply his patience in a more aggressive manner, no longer giving Rewind the opportunity to apply his offense. This appeared to have been the adjustment he needed to make, taking the next game handily. Facing the end of his tournament life, Rewind decided to tag in Raiden. The character change didn't faze Scar one bit, taking the round 1 and 2 fairly quickly, winning the set 3-1 and advancing to Grand Finals.

Finally, we had Xinok's Tremor playing against Scar's Sonya. Xinok showed off exactly why he got into this grand finals, knocking Scar from one side of the stage to the other, winning game one with another Brutality. Scar came into game 2 looking a lot better, taking round 1 without losing too much of his health in the process. Now looking entirely different, he closed out the second round and brought the score up to 1-1. Xinok returned the favor in game 3, adjusting to Scar's adjustments and took both rounds in much the same manner as in game 1. Up against the wrong side of losers, Scar opted to stick with Sonya and clutched out round 1 of game 4. Without skipping a beat, Scar set the score 2-2, putting us on the edge of the second NRS bracket reset this major. Looking to please the people, Scar secured round 1 with some sneaky placement of a stun grenade. Not looking to go through this again, Xinok took round 2 by armor straight through Scar's corner escape. Hungry for the win and that pot bonus, Xinok was able to secure the win, going 3-2 over Scar and becoming our Combo Breaker MKXL champion.

You could see right after that final combo how much this win meant to Xinok. Taking down some of the best names in the MKXL community, Xinok certainly earned himself the title of Combo Breaker 2018 champion. In another fantastic Top 8, Combo Breaker is one game closer to finishing up for the NRS scene. However, we still have Injustice 2 later tonight, so make sure you have your schedule cleared out tonight so you don't miss out. See you guys then!

 

[Charybdis]

That was an awesome Top 8

 

[kabelfritz]

cool mkx is still being played

 

[Lokheit]

Spoiler

Xinok was awesome, congratulations!

Watching MKX again made me feel the need to play it, it's just soooooo much more dynamic and fun than Injustice.

 

[Swindle]

cool mkx is still being played

This is exactly why you gotta call people out when they blame NRS for their games having a short life span. They don't - It's the community that is deciding when they "die".

 

[Juggs]

This is exactly why you gotta call people out when they blame NRS for their games having a short life span. They don't - It's the community that is deciding when they "die".

There’s more factors in play than the NRS community. Yes, it’s a big factor, but not the only one.

I actually dedicated a thread to this topic: https://testyourmight.com/threads/why-do-nrs-games-die.62917/#post-2229653

One thing I don’t think I mentioned is that once the new game drops, most tournaments take the old game out of the lineup. It could very well be because they know we can only play one game at a time, but also, if the community knows the old game won’t be a main game in the lineup, they are WAAY less likely to practice and play it.

 

[Swindle]

There’s more factors in play than the NRS community. Yes, it’s a big factor, but not the only one.

I actually dedicated a thread to this topic: https://testyourmight.com/threads/why-do-nrs-games-die.62917/#post-2229653

One thing I don’t think I mentioned is that once the new game drops, most tournaments take the old game out of the lineup. It could very well be because they know we can only play one game at a time, but also, if the community knows the old game won’t be a main game in the lineup, they are WAAY less likely to practice and play it.

The most important factor is DEMAND. If enough players are coming out to tournaments to support the scene, then it can live on. The real problem isn't NRS's dev cycle, or surly TO's that hate NRS's community - it's that these players do not take enough responsibility in supporting their own scene. How many TYM'ers here actually travel to tournaments, even locals, and support their game consistently? Most members here haven't even been to ONE. Not to play, not to assist, not to fill a seat. Nothing. Are there other factors that go into this? Of course there are. But none of those other factors justify shirking personal responsibility if the goal is to keep a game relevant.

 

[Evil Canadian]

So blame the players is your attitude, classy.

 

[Swindle]

So blame the players is your attitude, classy.

The players that don't support the scene, but still bitch about the game not surviving for more than a year or two? Yeah, I'm that classy.

 

[Juggs]

The most important factor is DEMAND. If enough players are coming out to tournaments to support the scene, then it can live on. The real problem isn't NRS's dev cycle, or surly TO's that hate NRS's community - it's that these players do not take enough responsibility in supporting their own scene. How many TYM'ers here actually travel to tournaments, even locals, and support their game consistently? Most members here haven't even been to ONE. Not to play, not to assist, not to fill a seat. Nothing. Are there other factors that go into this? Of course there are. But none of those other factors justify shirking personal responsibility if the goal is to keep a game relevant.

All the factors play a big role. The issue is understanding WHY the demand isn’t there, WHY players quit the game. Which what I tried to illustrate in the thread I linked. Obviously if no one quit, the game would still be played. But there’s a reason people quit playing, it’s not simply because people are too lazy to go to tournaments. People stop playing at home too.

 

[Cursa]

It's both really.

If most players just drop a game for whatever reason (Boredom, work/time, competitors releasing a new game), it has a short lifespan.

If NRS releases a new game every year or so, then the previous game's lifespan gets shorter as a result.

Plus other reasons.

I agree with what @Swindle says when people drop a game early in it's life and then wonder why they see the same players at top 8 at every major. Not pointing fingers because yeah there's loads of reasons why people can't attend or support these things but it still contributes

Excellent top 8 though, which seemed like a more relevant comment

 

[Sage Leviathan]

I'd rather devote a thread to how NRS can pack so much content, intrigue, and competitive balance in a game seemingly spawned in a two-year breeding cycle.

 

[Colest]

This was a great send off to MKX. I hope it gets support at other tournaments but the drive just isn't there from the community it seems.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

This is exactly why you gotta call people out when they blame NRS for their games having a short life span. They don't - It's the community that is deciding when they "die".

The thing I always have to bring up when this comes up though, is that it's really hard for players to be top-level competitive in multiple modern top FGC games. There was an era when the FGC and the talent pool for each game was small enough that this was easier to do -- just by having strong fighting game fundamentals, you automatically put yourself ahead of most people in any game. We are no longer in that era.

We're now in the era of frame data, every match being available on Twitch or Youtube VOD to study, tech traveling at the speed of the internet, and tons of hungry players (up thousand of or more in some cases) showing up to tournaments.

I don't have to remind you about what happened to Punk when he started focusing on Marvel, or Sonic with the Pro League Championship, etc. These are guys who are more talented than most will ever be, and at the top of their game, and still stumbled because they were taking their focus away from their main title.

The real truth is, that the majority of no community ever plays multiple games. This is a myth that is just untrue. Smash 4 and Melee are not the same community. They're both under the heading of the "Smash community", but (with only one of two exceptions) they are not the same top players, and not generally not the same playerbase. There are casuals who will dabble in both, but there will always be a huge number of entrants that aren't overlapping and only like one of those games.

Likewise in the most mature periods of SF4 and Marvel 3, the same top players weren't equally focused on those games. You want to a Marvel tournament to see Flocker and Kane and Chris G and at the highest level, meanwhile SF4 had its own group of gods and top players. Not that some people wouldn't enter both, but those communities were not the same and the "Capcom Community" is really a banner for a community that includes people who only care about one of those two games.

Asking the same small group of top players we have to care about both Injustice 2 and MKX, for example, when there's a ton of money on the line in IPS, isn't actually fair.

So Either 1) We grow big enough to actually have two communities under the banner of 'NRS', or 2) We admit that we're really one community and stop guilt-shaming people for not competing in both at every event. But we shouldn't be holding ourselves to an unrealistic standard that no other community is living up to.

 

[Swindle]

The thing I always have to bring up when this comes up though, is that it's really hard for players to be top-level competitive in multiple modern top FGC games. There was an era when the FGC and the talent pool for each game was small enough that this was easier to do -- just by having strong fighting game fundamentals, you automatically put yourself ahead of most people in any game. We are no longer in that era.

We're now in the era of frame data, every match being available on Twitch or Youtube VOD to study, tech traveling at the speed of the internet, and tons of hungry players (up to a couple thousand of them in some cases) showing up to tournaments.

I don't have to remind you about what happened to Punk when he started focusing on Marvel, or Sonic with the Pro League Championship, etc. These are guys who are more talented than most will ever be, and at the top of their game, and still stumbled because they were taking their focus away from their main title.

The real truth is, that the majority of no community ever plays multiple games. This is a myth that is just untrue. Smash 4 and Brawl are not the same community. They're both under the heading of the "Smash community", but (with only one of two exceptions) they are not the same top players, and not generally not the same playerbase. There are casuals who will dabble in both, but there will always be a huge number of entrants that aren't overlapping and only like one of those games.

Likewise in the most mature period of SF4 and Marvel, the same top players weren't equally focused on those games. You want to a Marvel tournament to see Flocker and Kane and Chris G and at the highest level, meanwhile SF4 had its own group of gods and top players. Not that some people wouldn't enter both, but those communities were not the same and the "Capcom Community" is really a banner for a community that includes people who only care about one of those two games.

Asking the same small group of top players we have to care about both Injustice 2 and MKX, for example, when there's a ton of money on the line in IPS, isn't actually fair.

So Either 1) We grow big enough to actually have two communities under the banner of 'NRS', or 2) We admit that we're really one community and stop guilt-shaming people for not competing in both at every event. But we shouldn't be holding ourselves to an unrealistic standard that nobody else is living up to.

As I mentioned in my post, you don't have to be a competitive player to support the scene. TO's frequently can make use of people for set-up/promotion, donations and just showing up to fill seats. The community isn't just those of us with our hands on the controllers.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

As I mentioned in my post, you don't have to be a competitive player to support the scene. TO's frequently can make use of people for set-up/promotion, donations and just showing up to fill seats. The community isn't just those of us with our hands on the controllers.

But these are, in all cases, not the same community. It's only our community that guilt-trips people for not playing both. The hundreds of people who only care about Marvel or SF, for example, are fine with only being interested in one of those games.

We call it the "Smash Community" because they're technically all smash brothers games, but the truth is that it's really the Smash 4 Community and the Melee Comunity, and plenty of people are fine just caring about one of those games.

They're not worried about filling seats because there are enough people who specialize in each game to have a core tournament from each group at every event. Any overlap is just icing on the cake.

 

[Roy Arkon]

What a tourney it was. Watching MKX on a tourney stream again was so much fun, just like any other MKX tourney stream I've seen every since the game came out. Really hoped to see a Reptile or Scorpion in top 8 once again, especially from Rewind, but the tourney was still filled with so much hype and so much excitement. I love this game so much!

Congratulations to Killer Xinok, the guy earned it and in a stylish fashion nonetheless!

Also @CrimsonShadow great points dude, we need to be more realistic about our community and sub-communities, and ourselves as well, each for his/her own.