Road to the Best of MK9: EGP Tyrant vs. vVv CD Jr

[HellblazerHawkman]

Welcome to a new retrospective series we are trying out here at TYM! The idea is we go through some of the greatest moments in the NRS scene's history and we end by taking a vote on the greatest match in a given game's life; think one of those sports countdowns you'd see for the UFC or NFL. So to kick things off, we are going to start with MK9 and a legendary match in 2012—the Jax FT5 mirror between Tyrant and CD Jr right before MLG Anaheim.

MK9 had a lot of competition during its 3-4 year EVO season, with players settling into the role of "best so-and-so" as what tends to happen with fighting games. Before MLG Anaheim, if you were to ask most people following the competitive MK9 scene "who is the best Jax player?" they'd probably have one of two answers for you: EGP Tyrant or vVv CD Jr. After a year and a half of planning, things were put into motion to have a definitive answer on EGP's After Hours stream the Friday before MLG Anaheim.

What took place has become widely recognized as one of the most intense 20 minutes in all of MK9's life. The level of hype going into this was further enhanced by the packed hotel room, flickering lights, and looks of joy that gradually came upon the faces of Tyrant and CD Jr as one took another win or lost another game by a sliver of health. Health deficits didn't matter, meter disadvantages didn't matter, corner positioning didn't matter: these two players did what they had to do to keep this FT5 running down to the wire. In the end, CD Jr was able to close out game 9, proving to be the better Jax for no reason other than somebody had to win first; if they played for 100 games, you'd best believe that the score would have ended at 50-50. CD Jr. went on to take 4th at MLG Anaheim and 2nd at EVO that year while Tyrant tied for 5th at MLG Anaheim and tied for 7th at EVO.

If you are new to the NRS scene, do yourself a favor and watch this set down below. You'd be hard pressed to find better examples of perfect spacing, zoning and mind games all in one. If you want to keep up with these players now, you can catch Tyrant (now Hitbox Tyrant) and CD Jr (now AUL Mani) on Twitter and at various majors. And let us know what you'd want to see up next in this series: got a match you want to see win the title of Best in MK9 History? There's a lot to go through, so make sure we don't miss one!

 

[Jaku2011]

I saw this years ago. As someone who did not really like MK9, Marvel 3 was still new and crazy, I still find this to be one of the best fighting game matches I've ever seen.

 

[NothingPersonal]

The times of the making of NRS legends.

 

[Lt. Boxy Angelman]

To me, as NRS games go, this is still the best fight of all time free.

 

[Konqrr]

There are SO many MK9 matches that are great.

 

[Darth-Nero]

The one and only mirror match that i enjoyed and kept me at the edge of my seat.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

Woundcowboy vs. Pig of the Hut tho

I think we made a thread once of our favorite matches, but I can’t remember where it is.

The thing that makes this really unfair, though, is that all the MLG archives are gone — meaning that some of the greatest MK9 matches in its tournament history will never seen again, and can’t be compared to the ones still on Youtube.

Watching Jr. during this era was always a treat win or lose, and there was never a dull moment.

 

[Scott The Scot]

I remember when I was only just getting into the competitive MK9 scene and Youph kept telling me to watch this but I wasn't really into watching tourney matches at this point unless it was Wafflez, Brady or xSMoKEx. So when I saw a Jax mirror, my face was something close to a DansGame emote. But I gave it a watch eventually, and I was blown away. My eyes were wide, jaw was dropped and hands were shaking. I had just witnessed the best set in MK9 and it introduced me to watching tournaments and other sets with different characters.

If anybody wants more entertainment from MK9 vods, then watch GGA's low tier tourney or Team Brady vs Team Pig. They are some top-grade entertainment.

 

[STORMS]

This stands in time with a few other sets..

• Tom Brady vs DJT (Sub mirror EVO match in 2012)
• VSM vs 16 Bit, Slips, Morty, Detroit at Final Round. This was where Crazy Dominican would OCV (one character victory)
• @Slips Scorpion reset vs PL at Frosty Faustings
• REO vs xSmokex during Toryuken (?) where xSmokex used the glitch and frozen Kabal. This set was one of the most fast-paced MK9 sets ever.

Oh the memories.

 

[KC H0oKsw0rds]

My personal fave is Tyrant vs DJT: the x-ray, the baby, and the bernie

 

[Wigy]

The game of real footsies

 

[CrimsonShadow]

The game of real footsies

Dashblock isn’t “real footsies” by any measure in the FGC, though.

You want to dash, take the risk of getting blown up. That’s real footsies.

 

[Wigy]

Dashblock isn’t “real footsies” by any measure in thr FGC, though.

You want to dash, take the risk of getting blown up. That’s real footsies.

There is more spacing in that cd jr game and the shang detroit ballin one than any injustice game i’ve ever seen.

Its just my opinion i should have prefaced that.

Dash block created the most enjoyable neutral no matter how crappy your normals were you could work hard and patiently to get in and play footsies. (Unless you were against kenshi)

Also, dont think a comparison to other fighters should be a basis of whats good and whats bad. MK9 brought more hype than any of the other games from what i saw. Hence this thread. Theres been tonnes of these threads for mk9 but never seen one for inj1 or mkx.

I wont derail the thread though.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

There is more spacing in that cd jr game and the shang detroit ballin one than any injustice game i’ve ever seen.

Its just my opinion i should have prefaced that.

Dash block created the most enjoyable neutral no matter how crappy your normals were you could work hard and patiently to get in and play footsies. (Unless you were against kenshi)

I wont derail the thread anymore

It’s a fair discussion. A number of people who were great at the hybrid dashblock have been blown up in games where they actually have to commit to their movement, like most other players of 2D games.

I think it’s an interesting contrast.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

The other topic that usually comes up is “real anti airs”, when people being able to ez-mode jab somebody out of a jump into a full combo is talked about as the standard of fighting game anti-airs, when it’s actually not how traditional anti-airs work.

 

[Wigy]

The other topic that usually comes up is “real anti airs”, when people being able to ez-mode jab somebody out of a jump into a full combo is talked about as the standard of fighting game anti-airs, when it’s actually not how traditional anti-airs work.

Do you not prefer it to the big jumpy mess the followup games were?

 

[CrimsonShadow]

Do you not prefer it to the big jumpy mess the followup games were?

Imo the best balance is in the middle — where AA’s are strong discouragement but not necessarily as easy for the payoff as they were in that game. Imo Injustice 2 hits the sweet spot, with the exception of a couple AA’s that were a little too weak or too dominant.

But I also like the SF style as well, where a simple well-placed DP or uppercut makes you think twice about jumping in.

Also, although I haven’t played DBFZ yet, it’s really cool to watch the use of 2H for punishing movement in that game, and it looks like it feels super rewarding when you time it right.

 

[Hruza Da Bruza]

When people ask me what got me into fighting games, I always show them this set. So hype, so much understanding of the game, and so much understanding of each other. This set made me love fighting games and is by far one of the best in NRS history.

 

[Eddy Wang]

Saw it live back then, MLG Anaheim was fire, and this along with Tom Sub mirror was so hype TYM talked about it for weeks to come.

Also really hope NRS brings the next game back to this level of hype and depth, MK9 is legendary.

 

[Badboy Takuma]

The other topic that usually comes up is “real anti airs”, when people being able to ez-mode jab somebody out of a jump into a full combo is talked about as the standard of fighting game anti-airs, when it’s actually not how traditional anti-airs work.

in a fighting game without air block are jump ins usually unsafe (unless you are playing a trash game).
so it does not really matter how your punish looks like (jab, d2 or whatever).

 

[RM AtK!]

Dashblock isn’t “real footsies” by any measure in the FGC, though.

You want to dash, take the risk of getting blown up. That’s real footsies.

LOL hey go tell tekken they don't play footsies

 

[CrimsonShadow]

LOL hey go tell tekken they don't play footsies

Tekken has about 5 different types of movement and is infinitely more complex than dashblocking in a straight line.

Hard to even compare the risk/reward to other fighting games (especially 2D ones). It's just 'Tekken movement'.

 

[RM AtK!]

Tekken has about 5 different types of movement and is infinitely more complex than dashblocking in a straight line.

Hard to even compare the risk/reward to other fighting games (especially 2D ones). It's just 'Tekken movement'.

how is the mind game of "is he committing forward or am i gonna get my ankles broken throwing something out to meet him there" not footsies? there's tons of depth in just that aspect instead of just running forward and someone meeting it with a button.

 

[Tom Brady]

"MK9 was bad because you couldnt jump as one of the best ways to get in" - TYM 2015'ers

 

[Lt. Boxy Angelman]

"MK9 was bad because you couldnt jump as one of the best ways to get in" - TYM 2015'ers

Doesn't it make your head hurt?

I still remember fighting people online and i wouldn't get nearly as upset about losing as i would about anyone who wasn't playing Lao/Kitana/Anyone who BELONGED in the air jumping like jackrabbits. You could often tell the better players from the muck by how much time they spent on the ground.
And the anti-airs were soooooooo so so satisfying. If I didn't have the attention span of a gnat, I'd make a top 10 thread for it.
I didn't even play Jax unless it was random, but I understand why guys like these two were so all the way up there with him.
1 x 1 x 1 x 1 x 12 + Dash Punch, just...mmmm. I wish I hadn't been garbage with him because that by itself is an addictive friggin' spot.