Fromundaman
I write too much.
Once more Thursday has come and gone and we all know what that means: Injustice locals as far as the eye can see. Here in Cincinnati we had a rather exciting tournament with 11 players present and a 1st time winner, @AL Eevee.
Unfortunately, what we did not have was stream time, as this week it was the Melee crew's turn to broadcast their tournament. It's a shame, but what can you do? Hopefully one of us can obtain recording equipment soon and record and match that doesn't get streamed next time.
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Some notable mentions from this tournament:
-Multiple Jokers were sighted at this event, including one in Grand Finals!
-Neither Red Cyclone nor LordChozo were able to return this week. We hope to see them shaking up the brackets again in two weeks time.
-Ryuseken is still trimming trees in purgatory (AKA West Virginia). We hope he will return to civilization in the near future, bringing his Shazam back with him.
-AL Eevee was able to get the day off and attend this time, and after his unpatched Colossocon fraud win, he was hungry to win that $12 grand prize in a real tournament.
-Echo, a Lobo player who unfortunately works most Thursdays, was able to attend this time around and shotgun some fools into oblivion.
-I'mAriesBaby, a Shazam player known as the "Bullshit Master" by the Marvel crowd, decided to enter today and showed that despite appearing to focus all of his time on Marvel, his Shazam was no slouch.
-Osirun, the Green Arrow player who has run almost every non-Capcom event at our arcade until recently, came out of semi-retirement to shoot down birds, demons and illegal aliens.
-MPII, one of our resident Zod players, was able to make it to the arcade this week and compete offline once again.
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On to the results:
1st place: @AL Eevee (Batgirl/Harley Quinn/The Joker)
2nd place: Kenshinoyo/ @rurounikenshin (Martian Manhunter/Bane)
3rd place: @Mod (Superman)
4th place: @Fromundaman (The Joker)
5th place: @Sonic Lionheart (Hawkgirl/Nightwing/Zatanna)
5th place: MPII (Zod/Batgirl)
7th place: @VGMtheVagabond (Raven)
7th place: Arkayne (Batgirl)
9th place: Echo (Lobo)
9th place: Osirun (Green Arrow)
9th place: I'mAriesBaby! (Shazam)
The last 5 spots were all byes, as we unfortunately had a rather large number of them.
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While we unfortunately don't have a stream link, I am going to try to do a write up off of what I remember.
We kicked off the tournament with VGMtheVagabond's Raven facing off against I'mAriesBaby!'s Shazam. This is a matchup VGM has often played against Ryuseken, and started off keeping Aries out, but Aries' Shazam plays differently than Ryuseken's, and through very patient play I'mAriesBaby! was able to get in on Raven and take the set, causing our first upset of the day.
On the other side of the bracket, Osirun's Green Arrow faced off against Sonic Lionheart's assortment of characters. It was a rough back and forth set during which Sonic Lionheart gave all of his characters a try, but eventually Osirun's unconventional Green Arrow style (He didn't save for super?! What?) and smart arrow choices won him the set in a second upset.
MPII and Eevee demanded to go next, both eager for the runback from the last few times they had faced each other. Their sets have gone back and forth in the past, with each probably secretly thinking the other got lucky and it wouldn't happen again. I sadly missed most of this set, but Eevee showed just how much he wanted it as his Harley rushed down MPII's Zod and through some measured disrespect of Zod's trait as well as some ridiculous resets handily sent MPII to losers.
Osirun and Mod were up next. I sadly saw almost nothing of this match, but Mod's Superman appeared to bully Osirun's arrow with F23 pressure to take the win.
At the same time Fromundaman (Yours truly) and I'mAriesBaby! were going at it. Fromundaman could probably teach a college course on the Shazam matchup at this point thanks to previous encounters with I'mAriesBaby! and near daily training against Ryuseken when he was in the state. Despite this though, I'mAriesBaby! decided to take a much more cautious approach and gave Fromundaman nearly nothing to punish, making for some very close and intense matches. Unfortunately for him, Fromundaman's knowledge of the matchup gave him a leg up and he ended up taking the set.
VGMTheVagabond and Osirun were up next in what looked like an attrocious matchup in our first loser's bracket match. Osirun put up a fight, but unfortunately for him Raven can punish arrow loads incredibly easily with soul crush, as well as make it really hard for GA to move at all, which led to VGM taking the set pretty handily.
In another Loser's matchup, we saw Sonic Lionheart take on I'mAriesBaby!. I'm guessing Shazam vs Hawkgirl is also a terrible MU since I'mAriesBaby! complained about it from the moment he heard who his opponent was. Despite his complaining however, he started off strong, running away from Hawkgirl until she made a mistake, then punishing and starting a vortex. This gave him a healthy lead of about a full health bar in the first match. Unfortunately his success emboldened him and he started trying to approach Hawkgirl while she was in the air, allowing Sonic Lionheart to play his game and make up the life deficit to take the first game.
It seemed like this disheartened I'mAriesBaby!, who had trouble getting back into it game 2. On top of this Sonic Lionheart decided to stop trying to approach Shazam with Mace charges and instead opted to stay away from him then punishing him for trying to approach. This showed us exactly why I'mAriesBaby! had been complaining about the matchup, and Hawkgirl took the rest of the set fairly convincingly, knocking I'mAriesBaby! out of the tournament.
Also both of these competitors need shorter names.
It was at this point that Kenshinoyo finally decided to show up (After calling to say he'd be a half hour late, then showing up an hour and a half later
) and managed to get there right as I was about to send him to losers. He went to play straight away against Echo, who lamented losing his easy win by mere minutes. Once Kenshinoyo found himself a controller, the two started to play. Echo showed improvement and got some good shots in, but Kenshinoyo's greater understanding of the game and fighting games in general helped him attain victory.
Kenshinoyo then faced off against Arkayne's Batgirl in a set I unfortunately missed all of. I just know that Kenshinoyo pulled ahead on that set too.
Meanwhile, Echo and MPII faced off in losers. Echo used Lobo's shotgun blasts and Hook Charge to bully Zod on knockdown, but MPII was undaunted, responding with trait setups and Zod Balls. The two had some close matches, but MPII came out on top.
MPII faced VGMTheVagabond next in what turned out to be a really intense matchup. VGM's Raven didn't let MPII's Zod get set up, squeezing him out of everything, and took game 1 fairly handily. MPII made a surprising decision and decided that since Zod wasn't getting the job done, he'd run it back with Batgirl. This proved to be a good idea, and VGM's matchup inexperience began to show. The matches were close, but ultimately MPII clutched it out with Batgirl.
Back on winner's side, we saw a recurring matchup at these events lately: Fromundaman vs Kenshinoyo. This was a runback from last event's Finals, and both players were hungry for the win. The matches were down to the wire, coming down to last hit of the last game with only a few seconds left on the clock, but ultimately Kenshinoyo took the win to send a very salty Fromundaman to losers.
On the other side of the winner's bracket, Eevee and Mod faced off to see who would face Kenshinoyo. I missed a good portion of this set, but it is my understanding that Eevee's Harley lost the zoning war to lasers in the first part of the set before switching to Batgirl. Despite some successful vortexing, this proved to be too little too late and Mod's Superman moved on to Winner's Finals.
Fromundaman and MPII were up next. MPII, emboldened by his prior success with Batgirl, made the terrible choice to stick with Barbara, apparently being unaware that Joker was the reason she ended up in a wheelchair. Fromundaman practices against Eevee a LOT and the matchup knowledge showed as he counterzoned MPII's Batgirl, baited teleports and baited interactibles (Although he did get hit by roughly a billion cartwheels) to take the first match.
MPII realized his mistake and changed to Zod for game 2. Smart zoning and good reads along with a few good trait setups, allowed MPII to take the next game over Fromundaman's Joker.
Fromundaman instantly hit rematch, upset at losing even a game against any Zod who's name doesn't end in "of the Hut", and Joker went ham, pressuring Zod with ridiculous + frames and knockdown setups. When the smoke cleared, Fromundaman had done the impossible and overcome the 10-0 matchup that is Zod... again.
Meanwhile Sonic Lionheart faced off against Arkayne in yet another set I missed. I believe Sonic Lionheart played Zatanna to take the set against Arkayne's Batgirl.
Sonic Lionheart would then stay on to play against Eevee in a matchup that seems to always happen at every tournament they are both present at, no matter where that tournament may be. So far, Sonic Lionheart had been Eevee's tournament master, knocking him out every time they had met. That said, Eevee has been hitting the hyperbolic time chamber lately to ensure that never happened again.
The first 2 matches saw Eevee's Harley going up against Sonic Lionheart's Hawkgirl. Much like in the previous encounters these two had, Sonic Lionheart took to the air while Eevee threw cupcakes, up guns and j2s at him. Unlike the previous encounters however, Eevee had learned some new tricks for shutting the bird down after a knockdown. Harley's guns rang out post-knockdown to stuff all of HG's wakeups and forcing her to stay grounded and eat frametraps, giving Eevee a distinct advantage and allowing him to take the first two games convincingly and suprising Sonic Lionheart.
At this point Sonic Lionheart realized that neither his Hawkgirl nor his Zatanna could take Eevee's new and improved Harley, and he found himself turning to his old main: Nightwing. This seems to have been a smart course of action since he managed to take the next game. Unfortunately I missed what came next, but I believe Eevee ran it back with Harley (Maybe changed to Batgirl? Eevee/Sonic Lionheart correct me?) to take the set and finally defeat his nemesis.
Over in Winner's Finals, Kenshinoyo and Mod duked it out in a canonical battle of the aliens (Martian and Superman respectively). These two are training partners and due to their apparent skill face each other often in our events, and the matchup knowledge showed as both players avoided everything the other person threw at them. Mod expertly navigated MMH's traps and punished everything he could while Kenshinoyo showed he was not afraid of Superman, using orbs and zoning to force actions then punishing them. The set went back and forth, but in the end the Martian defied Injustice canon and defeated the man of steel. Kenshinoyo was once again moving on to Grand Finals.
Meanwhile in Loser's Semi, training partners met up for a long overdue rematch. Fromundaman had previously beaten Eevee every time they had met in tournament, but the last time they met had been last November, and Eevee had been looking forward to this runback for a long, long time.
Eevee immediately pulled out Batgirl, apparently unfazed by the possibility of being crippled for life. Turns out his bravado was justified and he quickly put Fromundaman's Joker in a vortex, where Fromundaman proceeded to demonstrate an almost supernatural ability to guess wrong every time, then guess wrong again as soon as the round restarted, guess wrong again on the vortex, clash, misread a teleport and get put back into a vortex where he guessed wrong unto death. Somewhere deep inside Fromundaman's mind, he heard Joker mutter "That wasn't very funny..." and hit rematch, eager to run it back.
...And he guessed wrong on everything again. By this point Fromundaman renounced all laws of probability, accepted he was bad at reading, and contemplated unplugging Eevee's stick, but he hit rematch anyway.
Third time was the charm, and this time Fromundaman was able to guess right at least some of the time, as well as land a few good punishes and resets to take the match.
Eevee was unphazed however and hit rematch. This game went back and forth, with both players having trouble opening each other up. The match went down to the wire, but a fatal drop from Fromundaman cost him the game and his tournament life. Eevee had done it, and the student knocked out his master to move on to Loser's Finals.
By the time Loser's Finals rolled around, both players were feeling themselves. Eevee had just knocked out two of his tournament masters back to back while Mod felt comfortable in the knowledge he was the one who had sent Eevee to losers. The match started up with Eevee pulling out his Batgirl and Mod sporting his Superman. Both players went in hard, and we saw some super aggressive play from both players. Eevee managed to corner Mod's Superman though, where he dealt out ridiculous Batgirl damage to take the first game.
Mod composed himself and made adjustments game 2 though, wisely using Superman's backdash to make Eevee whiff, then punish to take the next match.
Eevee hit rematch, but it seemed that Mod had found out how to move against batgirl, and he punished everything then took the match with Superman corner shenanigans.
Eevee was on the verge of getting knocked out and took a minute to think about his predicament. After a couple minutes of deliberation, he went to player select and switched back to his first love: Harley Quinn.
This proved to be a good move as Eevee used a combination of smart zoning, ridiculous resets and abused Harley's mobility to shut down all of Mod's gameplans and take the next two games and the set.
Eevee had just made Grand Finals for the first time, and he was hungry. He had been talking about winning our locals for a long time, and it was finally within his grasp. Was it finally his time, or would Kenshinoyo take it again?
Fromundaman walked up to Eevee to coach him, imparting the wise advice of "Needs more crowbar. Then after that, crowbar, crowbar, crowbar and crowbar".
Surprisingly, Eevee said "I think you're right; it's time", and picked Joker round 1 as Kenshinoyo selected his trademark Martian. Kenshinoyo shot him a surprised look and in his mind probably thought the match would be free, especially as the stage random went to Arkham cell block. He was wrong.
The difference in playstyle between Fromundaman's and Eevee's Joker showed as Eevee caught Kenshinoyo off guard with early canister and crowbar cancels midstring, rather than going for the teeth setups Kenshinoyo was expecting. This turned out to be a smart idea and Eevee overcame all odds and took the first match convincingly.
Kenshinoyo took a minute to think things over, then hit rematch. This time the match was much closer, with Kenshinoyo getting hit less by canister cancels and doing a better job to zone him. On the flip side, Eevee's Joker was shutting down every teleport attempt with MB B3 on reaction and using gunshot to limit the zoning. In the end though Kenshinoyo's zoning and interactible control was too much, and Kenshinoyo took game 2.
Surprisingly, Eevee switched off of Joker at that point and decided to go Batgirl. Despite the gross lack of crowbar, Batgirl turned out to be the right choice, and Kenshinoyo had his first exposure to a good Batgirl, finding himself at a loss as to what to do. Eevee vortexed Kenshinoyo to the corner, where his healthbar became just a formality.
Kenshinoyo immediately went to the character select, deciding he couldn't risk another game with Martian; he needed armor. Bane came lumbering out ready to break some backs. While Bane was able to armor through some of Batgirl's hits, cartwheel is multihit, and proved to be a major problem, forcing the lumbering juggernaut to respect her at a certain range. Venom also did not affect the vortex, and although it was close, Eevee was able to force out the reset.
Kenshinoyo ran it back and during the first match of the reset discovered a hidden Bane technique known to only a select few that allowed him to combat the multi-hitting menace: The ancient art of blocking. Using the lost arts of blocking in conjunction with a constant flow of drugs, Kenshinoyo's Bane was able to break the Bat(girl).
Eevee took a moment to collect himself then went right back into it. This time around he decided to be a bit more defensive, pressing less buttons and trying to force Kenshinoyo to whiff attacks for him to punish as well as attempting to zone him when possible. This match was much closer, but ultimately Batgirl's gadgets proved useless and Kenshinoyo took round 2 of the reset.
Eevee stopped and pondered his predicament. It was all riding on this match. He had come this far and wanted, no needed, that win. He hits rematch.
At this point Eevee went into the match with a completely different strategy: If playing more defensively had helped last round, then playing obscenely defensively should lead to victory right?
Turns out he was right. I thought I was watching a Raven as Eevee held back and walked himself to the corner while throwing out the occasional projectile as Kenshinoyo followed, cautiously trying to get in without leaving himself open. Once in the corner, Eevee would let Kenshinoyo get close before using Bat Evade to get out of the corner and leave himself in a position where he could start an offense that would lead to obscene damage if he got the hit.
This tactic worked wonders, and Kenshinoyo didn't punish the bat evades at all (I REPEAT @rurounikenshin DID NOT DOWN 2 CANCEL OR JUMP ATTACK TO PREVENT THE OBVIOUS BAT EVADES OUT OF THE CORNER AT ALL *hint hint cough cough* ) which allowed Eevee to corner rape Kenshinoyo's Bane for the next 2 games.
It all came down to this. Both players had 2 games under their belts, and for better or worse, this would decide the winner of the set. Kenshinoyo took a moment as Eevee smiled, pleased for having visibly figured out Kenshinoyo's Bane and seeing the tournament win within his grasp. Player select. Kenshinoyo decides to go back to Martian.
Unfortunately, it seemed that Kenshinoyo's little break before the match was not enough, and he looked mentally broken. Eevee read everything, punishing into vortexes that Kenshinoyo guessed wrong on. Eevee took the last match of the set and therefore the tournament.
While there was surprisingly no pop off, a huge smile broke across his face and you could tell this was a moment he had been waiting for for a long, long time. Kenshinoyo shook his hand then turned to me before saying "So that's what playing against a good Batgirl is like".
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And that concludes the "Sorry we don't have a stream archive or videos so instead here is a LOOOOOONG summary of the tournament" write up for Step Yo Game Up Bi-weeklies 6/12. Tune in on 6/26 at http://www.twitch.tv/arcadelegacy for what we hope will be an Injustice stream (I don't actually know who's turn it will be. If it isn't ours, we'll see what we can do about recording some matches).
Also, a warning to everyone who plays at our events, might eventually play at our events or will be attending Summer Jam/TFC:
Eevee has officially proclaimed that not only will he be dominating our bi-weeklies from now on (I'm not letting this happen; time to hit the lab), but he is also going to be, at the very least, making it out of pools at both of those national events.
We have been warned.
Unfortunately, what we did not have was stream time, as this week it was the Melee crew's turn to broadcast their tournament. It's a shame, but what can you do? Hopefully one of us can obtain recording equipment soon and record and match that doesn't get streamed next time.
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Some notable mentions from this tournament:
-Multiple Jokers were sighted at this event, including one in Grand Finals!
-Neither Red Cyclone nor LordChozo were able to return this week. We hope to see them shaking up the brackets again in two weeks time.
-Ryuseken is still trimming trees in purgatory (AKA West Virginia). We hope he will return to civilization in the near future, bringing his Shazam back with him.
-AL Eevee was able to get the day off and attend this time, and after his unpatched Colossocon fraud win, he was hungry to win that $12 grand prize in a real tournament.
-Echo, a Lobo player who unfortunately works most Thursdays, was able to attend this time around and shotgun some fools into oblivion.
-I'mAriesBaby, a Shazam player known as the "Bullshit Master" by the Marvel crowd, decided to enter today and showed that despite appearing to focus all of his time on Marvel, his Shazam was no slouch.
-Osirun, the Green Arrow player who has run almost every non-Capcom event at our arcade until recently, came out of semi-retirement to shoot down birds, demons and illegal aliens.
-MPII, one of our resident Zod players, was able to make it to the arcade this week and compete offline once again.
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On to the results:
1st place: @AL Eevee (Batgirl/Harley Quinn/The Joker)
2nd place: Kenshinoyo/ @rurounikenshin (Martian Manhunter/Bane)
3rd place: @Mod (Superman)
4th place: @Fromundaman (The Joker)
5th place: @Sonic Lionheart (Hawkgirl/Nightwing/Zatanna)
5th place: MPII (Zod/Batgirl)
7th place: @VGMtheVagabond (Raven)
7th place: Arkayne (Batgirl)
9th place: Echo (Lobo)
9th place: Osirun (Green Arrow)
9th place: I'mAriesBaby! (Shazam)
The last 5 spots were all byes, as we unfortunately had a rather large number of them.
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While we unfortunately don't have a stream link, I am going to try to do a write up off of what I remember.
We kicked off the tournament with VGMtheVagabond's Raven facing off against I'mAriesBaby!'s Shazam. This is a matchup VGM has often played against Ryuseken, and started off keeping Aries out, but Aries' Shazam plays differently than Ryuseken's, and through very patient play I'mAriesBaby! was able to get in on Raven and take the set, causing our first upset of the day.
On the other side of the bracket, Osirun's Green Arrow faced off against Sonic Lionheart's assortment of characters. It was a rough back and forth set during which Sonic Lionheart gave all of his characters a try, but eventually Osirun's unconventional Green Arrow style (He didn't save for super?! What?) and smart arrow choices won him the set in a second upset.
MPII and Eevee demanded to go next, both eager for the runback from the last few times they had faced each other. Their sets have gone back and forth in the past, with each probably secretly thinking the other got lucky and it wouldn't happen again. I sadly missed most of this set, but Eevee showed just how much he wanted it as his Harley rushed down MPII's Zod and through some measured disrespect of Zod's trait as well as some ridiculous resets handily sent MPII to losers.
Osirun and Mod were up next. I sadly saw almost nothing of this match, but Mod's Superman appeared to bully Osirun's arrow with F23 pressure to take the win.
At the same time Fromundaman (Yours truly) and I'mAriesBaby! were going at it. Fromundaman could probably teach a college course on the Shazam matchup at this point thanks to previous encounters with I'mAriesBaby! and near daily training against Ryuseken when he was in the state. Despite this though, I'mAriesBaby! decided to take a much more cautious approach and gave Fromundaman nearly nothing to punish, making for some very close and intense matches. Unfortunately for him, Fromundaman's knowledge of the matchup gave him a leg up and he ended up taking the set.
VGMTheVagabond and Osirun were up next in what looked like an attrocious matchup in our first loser's bracket match. Osirun put up a fight, but unfortunately for him Raven can punish arrow loads incredibly easily with soul crush, as well as make it really hard for GA to move at all, which led to VGM taking the set pretty handily.
In another Loser's matchup, we saw Sonic Lionheart take on I'mAriesBaby!. I'm guessing Shazam vs Hawkgirl is also a terrible MU since I'mAriesBaby! complained about it from the moment he heard who his opponent was. Despite his complaining however, he started off strong, running away from Hawkgirl until she made a mistake, then punishing and starting a vortex. This gave him a healthy lead of about a full health bar in the first match. Unfortunately his success emboldened him and he started trying to approach Hawkgirl while she was in the air, allowing Sonic Lionheart to play his game and make up the life deficit to take the first game.
It seemed like this disheartened I'mAriesBaby!, who had trouble getting back into it game 2. On top of this Sonic Lionheart decided to stop trying to approach Shazam with Mace charges and instead opted to stay away from him then punishing him for trying to approach. This showed us exactly why I'mAriesBaby! had been complaining about the matchup, and Hawkgirl took the rest of the set fairly convincingly, knocking I'mAriesBaby! out of the tournament.
Also both of these competitors need shorter names.
It was at this point that Kenshinoyo finally decided to show up (After calling to say he'd be a half hour late, then showing up an hour and a half later
) and managed to get there right as I was about to send him to losers. He went to play straight away against Echo, who lamented losing his easy win by mere minutes. Once Kenshinoyo found himself a controller, the two started to play. Echo showed improvement and got some good shots in, but Kenshinoyo's greater understanding of the game and fighting games in general helped him attain victory.Kenshinoyo then faced off against Arkayne's Batgirl in a set I unfortunately missed all of. I just know that Kenshinoyo pulled ahead on that set too.
Meanwhile, Echo and MPII faced off in losers. Echo used Lobo's shotgun blasts and Hook Charge to bully Zod on knockdown, but MPII was undaunted, responding with trait setups and Zod Balls. The two had some close matches, but MPII came out on top.
MPII faced VGMTheVagabond next in what turned out to be a really intense matchup. VGM's Raven didn't let MPII's Zod get set up, squeezing him out of everything, and took game 1 fairly handily. MPII made a surprising decision and decided that since Zod wasn't getting the job done, he'd run it back with Batgirl. This proved to be a good idea, and VGM's matchup inexperience began to show. The matches were close, but ultimately MPII clutched it out with Batgirl.
Back on winner's side, we saw a recurring matchup at these events lately: Fromundaman vs Kenshinoyo. This was a runback from last event's Finals, and both players were hungry for the win. The matches were down to the wire, coming down to last hit of the last game with only a few seconds left on the clock, but ultimately Kenshinoyo took the win to send a very salty Fromundaman to losers.
On the other side of the winner's bracket, Eevee and Mod faced off to see who would face Kenshinoyo. I missed a good portion of this set, but it is my understanding that Eevee's Harley lost the zoning war to lasers in the first part of the set before switching to Batgirl. Despite some successful vortexing, this proved to be too little too late and Mod's Superman moved on to Winner's Finals.
Fromundaman and MPII were up next. MPII, emboldened by his prior success with Batgirl, made the terrible choice to stick with Barbara, apparently being unaware that Joker was the reason she ended up in a wheelchair. Fromundaman practices against Eevee a LOT and the matchup knowledge showed as he counterzoned MPII's Batgirl, baited teleports and baited interactibles (Although he did get hit by roughly a billion cartwheels) to take the first match.
MPII realized his mistake and changed to Zod for game 2. Smart zoning and good reads along with a few good trait setups, allowed MPII to take the next game over Fromundaman's Joker.
Fromundaman instantly hit rematch, upset at losing even a game against any Zod who's name doesn't end in "of the Hut", and Joker went ham, pressuring Zod with ridiculous + frames and knockdown setups. When the smoke cleared, Fromundaman had done the impossible and overcome the 10-0 matchup that is Zod... again.
Meanwhile Sonic Lionheart faced off against Arkayne in yet another set I missed. I believe Sonic Lionheart played Zatanna to take the set against Arkayne's Batgirl.
Sonic Lionheart would then stay on to play against Eevee in a matchup that seems to always happen at every tournament they are both present at, no matter where that tournament may be. So far, Sonic Lionheart had been Eevee's tournament master, knocking him out every time they had met. That said, Eevee has been hitting the hyperbolic time chamber lately to ensure that never happened again.
The first 2 matches saw Eevee's Harley going up against Sonic Lionheart's Hawkgirl. Much like in the previous encounters these two had, Sonic Lionheart took to the air while Eevee threw cupcakes, up guns and j2s at him. Unlike the previous encounters however, Eevee had learned some new tricks for shutting the bird down after a knockdown. Harley's guns rang out post-knockdown to stuff all of HG's wakeups and forcing her to stay grounded and eat frametraps, giving Eevee a distinct advantage and allowing him to take the first two games convincingly and suprising Sonic Lionheart.
At this point Sonic Lionheart realized that neither his Hawkgirl nor his Zatanna could take Eevee's new and improved Harley, and he found himself turning to his old main: Nightwing. This seems to have been a smart course of action since he managed to take the next game. Unfortunately I missed what came next, but I believe Eevee ran it back with Harley (Maybe changed to Batgirl? Eevee/Sonic Lionheart correct me?) to take the set and finally defeat his nemesis.
Over in Winner's Finals, Kenshinoyo and Mod duked it out in a canonical battle of the aliens (Martian and Superman respectively). These two are training partners and due to their apparent skill face each other often in our events, and the matchup knowledge showed as both players avoided everything the other person threw at them. Mod expertly navigated MMH's traps and punished everything he could while Kenshinoyo showed he was not afraid of Superman, using orbs and zoning to force actions then punishing them. The set went back and forth, but in the end the Martian defied Injustice canon and defeated the man of steel. Kenshinoyo was once again moving on to Grand Finals.
Meanwhile in Loser's Semi, training partners met up for a long overdue rematch. Fromundaman had previously beaten Eevee every time they had met in tournament, but the last time they met had been last November, and Eevee had been looking forward to this runback for a long, long time.
Eevee immediately pulled out Batgirl, apparently unfazed by the possibility of being crippled for life. Turns out his bravado was justified and he quickly put Fromundaman's Joker in a vortex, where Fromundaman proceeded to demonstrate an almost supernatural ability to guess wrong every time, then guess wrong again as soon as the round restarted, guess wrong again on the vortex, clash, misread a teleport and get put back into a vortex where he guessed wrong unto death. Somewhere deep inside Fromundaman's mind, he heard Joker mutter "That wasn't very funny..." and hit rematch, eager to run it back.
...And he guessed wrong on everything again. By this point Fromundaman renounced all laws of probability, accepted he was bad at reading, and contemplated unplugging Eevee's stick, but he hit rematch anyway.
Third time was the charm, and this time Fromundaman was able to guess right at least some of the time, as well as land a few good punishes and resets to take the match.
Eevee was unphazed however and hit rematch. This game went back and forth, with both players having trouble opening each other up. The match went down to the wire, but a fatal drop from Fromundaman cost him the game and his tournament life. Eevee had done it, and the student knocked out his master to move on to Loser's Finals.
By the time Loser's Finals rolled around, both players were feeling themselves. Eevee had just knocked out two of his tournament masters back to back while Mod felt comfortable in the knowledge he was the one who had sent Eevee to losers. The match started up with Eevee pulling out his Batgirl and Mod sporting his Superman. Both players went in hard, and we saw some super aggressive play from both players. Eevee managed to corner Mod's Superman though, where he dealt out ridiculous Batgirl damage to take the first game.
Mod composed himself and made adjustments game 2 though, wisely using Superman's backdash to make Eevee whiff, then punish to take the next match.
Eevee hit rematch, but it seemed that Mod had found out how to move against batgirl, and he punished everything then took the match with Superman corner shenanigans.
Eevee was on the verge of getting knocked out and took a minute to think about his predicament. After a couple minutes of deliberation, he went to player select and switched back to his first love: Harley Quinn.
This proved to be a good move as Eevee used a combination of smart zoning, ridiculous resets and abused Harley's mobility to shut down all of Mod's gameplans and take the next two games and the set.
Eevee had just made Grand Finals for the first time, and he was hungry. He had been talking about winning our locals for a long time, and it was finally within his grasp. Was it finally his time, or would Kenshinoyo take it again?
Fromundaman walked up to Eevee to coach him, imparting the wise advice of "Needs more crowbar. Then after that, crowbar, crowbar, crowbar and crowbar".
Surprisingly, Eevee said "I think you're right; it's time", and picked Joker round 1 as Kenshinoyo selected his trademark Martian. Kenshinoyo shot him a surprised look and in his mind probably thought the match would be free, especially as the stage random went to Arkham cell block. He was wrong.
The difference in playstyle between Fromundaman's and Eevee's Joker showed as Eevee caught Kenshinoyo off guard with early canister and crowbar cancels midstring, rather than going for the teeth setups Kenshinoyo was expecting. This turned out to be a smart idea and Eevee overcame all odds and took the first match convincingly.
Kenshinoyo took a minute to think things over, then hit rematch. This time the match was much closer, with Kenshinoyo getting hit less by canister cancels and doing a better job to zone him. On the flip side, Eevee's Joker was shutting down every teleport attempt with MB B3 on reaction and using gunshot to limit the zoning. In the end though Kenshinoyo's zoning and interactible control was too much, and Kenshinoyo took game 2.
Surprisingly, Eevee switched off of Joker at that point and decided to go Batgirl. Despite the gross lack of crowbar, Batgirl turned out to be the right choice, and Kenshinoyo had his first exposure to a good Batgirl, finding himself at a loss as to what to do. Eevee vortexed Kenshinoyo to the corner, where his healthbar became just a formality.
Kenshinoyo immediately went to the character select, deciding he couldn't risk another game with Martian; he needed armor. Bane came lumbering out ready to break some backs. While Bane was able to armor through some of Batgirl's hits, cartwheel is multihit, and proved to be a major problem, forcing the lumbering juggernaut to respect her at a certain range. Venom also did not affect the vortex, and although it was close, Eevee was able to force out the reset.
Kenshinoyo ran it back and during the first match of the reset discovered a hidden Bane technique known to only a select few that allowed him to combat the multi-hitting menace: The ancient art of blocking. Using the lost arts of blocking in conjunction with a constant flow of drugs, Kenshinoyo's Bane was able to break the Bat(girl).
Eevee took a moment to collect himself then went right back into it. This time around he decided to be a bit more defensive, pressing less buttons and trying to force Kenshinoyo to whiff attacks for him to punish as well as attempting to zone him when possible. This match was much closer, but ultimately Batgirl's gadgets proved useless and Kenshinoyo took round 2 of the reset.
Eevee stopped and pondered his predicament. It was all riding on this match. He had come this far and wanted, no needed, that win. He hits rematch.
At this point Eevee went into the match with a completely different strategy: If playing more defensively had helped last round, then playing obscenely defensively should lead to victory right?
Turns out he was right. I thought I was watching a Raven as Eevee held back and walked himself to the corner while throwing out the occasional projectile as Kenshinoyo followed, cautiously trying to get in without leaving himself open. Once in the corner, Eevee would let Kenshinoyo get close before using Bat Evade to get out of the corner and leave himself in a position where he could start an offense that would lead to obscene damage if he got the hit.
This tactic worked wonders, and Kenshinoyo didn't punish the bat evades at all (I REPEAT @rurounikenshin DID NOT DOWN 2 CANCEL OR JUMP ATTACK TO PREVENT THE OBVIOUS BAT EVADES OUT OF THE CORNER AT ALL *hint hint cough cough* ) which allowed Eevee to corner rape Kenshinoyo's Bane for the next 2 games.
It all came down to this. Both players had 2 games under their belts, and for better or worse, this would decide the winner of the set. Kenshinoyo took a moment as Eevee smiled, pleased for having visibly figured out Kenshinoyo's Bane and seeing the tournament win within his grasp. Player select. Kenshinoyo decides to go back to Martian.
Unfortunately, it seemed that Kenshinoyo's little break before the match was not enough, and he looked mentally broken. Eevee read everything, punishing into vortexes that Kenshinoyo guessed wrong on. Eevee took the last match of the set and therefore the tournament.
While there was surprisingly no pop off, a huge smile broke across his face and you could tell this was a moment he had been waiting for for a long, long time. Kenshinoyo shook his hand then turned to me before saying "So that's what playing against a good Batgirl is like".
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And that concludes the "Sorry we don't have a stream archive or videos so instead here is a LOOOOOONG summary of the tournament" write up for Step Yo Game Up Bi-weeklies 6/12. Tune in on 6/26 at http://www.twitch.tv/arcadelegacy for what we hope will be an Injustice stream (I don't actually know who's turn it will be. If it isn't ours, we'll see what we can do about recording some matches).
Also, a warning to everyone who plays at our events, might eventually play at our events or will be attending Summer Jam/TFC:
Eevee has officially proclaimed that not only will he be dominating our bi-weeklies from now on (I'm not letting this happen; time to hit the lab), but he is also going to be, at the very least, making it out of pools at both of those national events.
We have been warned.
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(And some of the new stuff I've been working on).
