GamerBlake90
Blue Blurs for Life!
IMPORTANT NOTE BELOW, PLEASE READ.
I had already published this thread regarding my participation at Texas Bar Fights 9 back in June, but it was lost due to TYM's server crash at the end of August. So I am reposting it here, copied and pasted directly from its twin incarnation at MKU. If you've read this already, there's no need for you to do so again, but it's here just in case.
As we speak, I am in the process of gathering opinions for a poll regarding the return of my tournament novels. If you want to vote and give your thoughts, follow the below link:
http://www.testyourmight.com/threads/my-tournament-novels.25351/
Now, read on and enjoy.
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As promised, this is my written account of my experiences in Texas Bar Fights 9, which took place on June 23rd.
Yeah, I've made it a tradition to share my story of the tournaments I go to. So I'll tell you right now: if you can't stomach reading long posts, I suggest you clear on out of here. For those who are interested in staying and reading, I welcome you all and thank you.
If you tuned in to the eleventh episode of DownFourCast, you might remember what I described about TBF 9. I'll be reposting that episode in my archives soon. (I missed the tenth episode; it got deleted from my archives before I got to uploading it. I have got to fight off the lazy spells)
So anyway...here goes.
Now as every player going to tournaments ought to know, you should never walk in there without having some practice beforehand. I'm pretty sure some would agree that the practice ought to last longer than one day and should be strictly offline, but given how miniscule the Oklahoma scene is for Mortal Kombat...we kinda didn't have much of a choice. Anything was better than nothing.
The practice was arranged one day before the event, on June 22nd, at RayboneKilla's residence. I arrived there a bit earlier than expected and was greeted by the sight of Ray's friends rocking sessions of Tekken 6. I took the time to get acquainted with them and was watching their sessions when I texted Ray, only for him to walk through the door immediately after I had sent the text. Lou (Raidenwins) also joined us to practice up in spite of the fact that he was running on two hours of sleep due to work. Talk about good timing!
After watching more Tekken 6 gameplay, I let Ray walk me through a bit of the basics for that game. It definitely felt nothing like MK9, but it was not the first time I had set foot in a 3D fighting environment. One factor I took notice of was how HUGE the commands list was for each character. Like, I didn't even try to count, it had like around 100 or 200 at the most. So much to memorize! I wondered how anybody would be patient enough to memorize that list...obviously Ray is one such person since he plays the game. LOL.
We got right into Mortal Kombat casuals after that little tutorial. As I expected, Ray's Reptile and Kabal quickly put me on alert, but thankfully I had a slew of new tricks to throw to the mix...hat tricks, if you will. I had picked up Kung Lao as a precautionary measure for offline Kabals in case my Sonya fell short, despite that I did not feel concerned about the match-up. This would wind up costing me later on in the story...read on and you will see what I mean.
Soon, Ray had to run an errand and thus Lou and I were left to get some practice in. It was then that Lou was introduced to Quan Chi's Rune Trap. I guess he met very few Quan Chi players in his time, because he was asking me if there was any way to escape it. I filled him in.
Then Lou had to take his leave before Ray got back. After all, the drive to Plano would last about three hours and he needed to be at full strength. Once Ray did make his return, we picked up our practice from where we left off, and kept at it until my friend decided enough was enough.
He offered to let me crash at his place for the night, and I took him up on the offer, deciding it would make it easier for Lou to collect us in the morning and it would allow me to ensure that Ray would be awake on time. Before getting some sleep, I performed my usual combo practice in Training Mode and cleared a couple missions on the Challenge Tower, which Ray had not fully completed. It was barely past 2:00 in the morning when I ceased my gameplay and put my controller on its charge cable before plopping flat onto the sofa.
I can't help but point out that I felt a little discouraged from the events of the night. When we made the switch to Mortal Kombat, the amount of players in the room had decreased quite a bit and there were groans about how the game worked, the comments being targeted at zoning and projectiles and what-not. Now I know they didn't make a big deal out of it and they are entitled to their opinions, but when you're someone who's trying to give life to the scene you support, hearing negative feedback can start to make you wonder if it's worth it. Didn't help that Oklahoma's scene was so small, either. I wondered if there'd be any hope for our MK players at this rate...
Anyway, before going to sleep, I used my iPhone to log in at MKU and put the link to the BoomGorillas stream channel in the shoutbox. Then I put my phone away and moved myself onto the floor so I could sleep there, since my shifting position on the sofa was disturbing Ray's cats. I didn't have any problem with sleeping on floors...at one point, I slept on my bedroom floor quite a lot, mostly because I couldn't be bothered to crawl onto my bed, haha.
The morning came quickly and I was pulled into reality again by the sound of my phone's alarm, which I had set the night before. I disabled it and noticed a text from Lou. He was on his way to the place. So I called Ray's phone, then cancelled the call and proceeded towards his room to notice him rousing from his slumber, the sound of his phone having awakened him. I normally feel bad about waking people in the mornings, but since Texas Bar Fights would start at like 2:00 P.M. I had to ensure we were ready.
In around twenty minutes, Ray had gotten himself ready to go and Lou had walked through the door. After collecting our belongings, I requested to be allowed to stop by my house. Lou consented, and so off we went...well, after Ray made a stop at his friend's house to drop something off, I should say. Then we trekked over to Oklahoma City and got to my place.
I swiftly exited the car and entered my house. The first room I went into was my own. I discarded my clothes that I had worn the previous night and slipped on a new set, including my good old Mortal Kombat t-shirt.
C'mon...whenever I go into an MK tournament, do you think I am not going to sport something that supports my scene? To do otherwise would be nonsense!
After getting dressed, I freshened up for the day and grabbed some food to take with me on the trip, since I wanted to cut down on our expenses a bit. Once that was done, I headed back out and rejoined my friends in our vehicle. The journey to Plano began the moment the car peeled itself off the driveway and barreled down the roads.
Apparently Ray had a bit of a similar idea, because we first stopped at a McDonald's to let him get something. Once that was done, we headed off towards our destination. I decided to use my iPhone to indulge in some soundtrack from one of my favorite gaming franchises so as to put my mind at ease.
Just for the heck of it, here's an example of one such soundtrack.
[/media]]
And don't go making any posts hating on Sonic the Hedgehog, 'cause I don't give a fuck.
Before anybody asks, and I ought to have pointed this out earlier...SaibotMK did not join us on this journey. He sold his PS3 some months ago. I'm not even sure where he is now; we've lost contact with him. I can only hope he's doing okay.
In what seemed like a matter of minutes, but what was really around two hours worth of travel, we crossed over into Texas territory and parked at a rest stop. I was immediately reminded of all the rest stops where I'd disembark from that Greyhound bus on my way to Vegas last year, when EVO 2011 was going down. Damn...has it really been almost a year since then? Time flies.
Soon, we were tearing off down the highway again. It didn't take much longer to reach the city of Plano, and after some bouts of confusion we eventually found the venue where Texas Bar Fights would host its ninth round, the Franchise Grill and Sports Bar. I exhaled a deep breath of air and exited the car, preparing myself for what would lie ahead.
Once we ascertained that we had our needed equipment, we entered the bar.
No sooner had I walked through the front door did a familiar sight greet my eyes. People had mentioned the possibility of Tom Brady attending this event, and it became a fact as I watched the man approaching the station where the MK9 brackets would be going down. A smile glided across my face as I moved to greet him after almost a year since EVO 2011. It had been far too long.
The next to greet me was a player I had met in the seventh round of TBF, Armageddon, a Mileena player I had defeated in the brackets. He expressed a wish for a salty runback. With a smirk, I resolved to make it happen, regardless of whether we met during or after the tournament.
In the midst of watching some MK9 casuals, I remembered I had to get my registration done. Thankfully the wait in line was not terribly long. I was assigned a name tag and a slip on which I'd give the needed information about what I would be competing in. The $20 was paid, and I trekked back to the front of the bar to continue soaking in some entertainment.
Grolarbears, @Tmac0544, and RM_xVAPORx joined us during the casuals. That was my first time meeting them, as we had always talked through my stream and MKU. Other arrivals included BigMilk, KH Showtime, KH Cat (whom I hadn't seen since EVO also), ScrubbyLicious88, Coosco, Crazy_xMyGodx_88, and so on. Damn, the bar was getting packed and the turnout for MK9 was lookin' hot!
I eventually got my chance to get in on the casuals against Tom. I'll leave out the details, but needless to say his Cage had given me a rough time. The match-ups become very different when you transition from online to offline play and I had never played against an offline Cage before. After we finished, he told me I needed serious work in the match-up. I could only stand there wondering why I couldn't get some of my moves to work so I could get out of some of that horrendous pressure.
It wasn't long before they announced the beginning of the tournament. My first opponent was KH Showtime. As we took our places, I expected him to bust out Johnny Cage since it was widely agreed on that Reptile had difficulty against Sonya, and Showtime was known to be a Reptile player. But he actually did call his Reptile to battle, a move which took me by surprise. He took the first game in the set, and after falling to an EX Elbow Dash Wake-Up near the end of the second game I thought I was done for...but by a stroke of luck, he dropped his combo and I came back to win the second game, then took the third.
Naturally Showtime was pissed at the comeback. I couldn't bring myself to blame him; knowing me, I would have been just as upset if it were I in his position. Before I left to report the scores, he declared, "That won't happen again."
Next opponent was my fellow 88 brother, MyGod. We played Sonya mirrors...and it was here that my usual patience started to wear down because he kept managing to get the life lead. I couldn't reverse the situation and he won 2-0, sending me to Loser's Brackets. The fact I had lost Sonya mirrors again, especially in a tournament, sent me into a state of deep frustration and self-resentment. I couldn't explain it, but playing the mirror was beginning to psyche me out.
I still had a chance, though...as long as I didn't lose another set.
Next opponent was GrolarBears. Now I must point out something here: ever since I had played him for the first time on my stream channel, his Noob Saibot was a bit above the average Noob. However, the more he played me and the other guys who attended my show, the more he grew...enough to even take an MLG set off me during its online ladder in May. I can't help but feel astonished about his growth as a player. So going into that set, I knew I had to be ready for anything.
After a hard-fought battle, I came out ahead at 2-0. As he was in the Loser's Bracket alongside myself (sent there by KH Cat), this meant he was eliminated. I felt bad from seeing his reaction to the loss, but as MyGod said, "it had to be one of us."
As I waited for my next shot in the tournament, I took some chances to try and calm my mind however I could...meditating, if you will. As everyone knows, I take my tournament performances to heart, and I couldn't afford to slack at that point. Although, it was kinda difficult to concentrate given the level of noise, and did anybody in the bar ever hear of air conditioning? The heat was getting ridiculous.
Soon, I came face to face with Vapor's Smoke in the tournament. We were halfway through our first game when we realized that he had been using the wrong button configuration, which explained his lack of breakers. We had to restart the set after he corrected this problem. In spite of this, I triumphed 2-0 to eliminate Vapor from the event.
Then came ScrubbyLicious88, if I remember the brackets correctly. I'm guessing he had a lack of Sonya experience, if the matches were any indication, because I won against his Kung Lao and Jax to advance in the tournament. He didn't seem to be watching for my EX Cartwheel or my stance mix-ups. Regardless, the set was a good one.
For my next match, I was shocked to discover that Showtime would be facing me again. At this point, it could only be one of us who could remain in the tournament. I braced myself for his Reptile, but instead his cursor went over to Sonya and I was like, "Damn it, mirrors again..." I'm not sure if he made this change because of what he noticed in my fights with MyGod, but I went into the fights as calm as I could be. After a close set of games and a lot of mistakes from both of us, I managed to win again at 2-0. I was quite ecstatic from winning the mirrors.
But the excitement turned to discomfort when MyGod and Showtime degenerated into a heated argument. You see, during my rematch set with Showtime, MyGod was calling out all his support to me while, erm...taking shots at Showtime's Reptile, best way I can put it. I didn't approve of that; even though I knew MyGod was only having my back, I still think the sporting conduct could have gone both ways rather than one. I felt a pang of guilt as the argument subsided and Showtime walked away. MyGod seemed to have forgotten so quickly that I was only lucky to have won against his Reptile because of one dropped combo...
The incident was pushed out of my mind when my next match was called. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest when I realized it was KH Cat I would be playing against. One word came to mind the moment this match was declared: Kabal. I figured it was time to try and prove why Sonya vs. Kabal didn't bother me as much as it did other Sonya players.
Unfortunately, this ambition didn't hold up. Cat took the first game, leaving me teetering between the chances of victory and defeat. I went back to the character select and pondered over what I needed to do. I had my back-up characters, Kung Lao and Raiden, reserved for a situation like this...but I was suddenly reluctant to pull them out.
I'll explain my reasons.
For Kung Lao, I hadn't had much experience using him, so I felt he wasn't tournament-ready. It also didn't help that when Cat played Coosco's Kung Lao, Coosco looked so flustered during that match-up. I decided that Cat was too familiar with the match-up for it to be worth a shot.
As for Raiden...when I broke him out against Tom during our casuals from earlier, the Thunder God had not gotten a single win. That didn't make the idea of using him appealing. Looking back, I kinda wish I had picked Raiden now. Unlike Sonya, he had the tools to make anything happen against Kabal.
I stuck to my Sonya, knowing full well what the risk would be. And even though I came close in the second game, my efforts were in vain. Cat triumphed 2-0, and my progress was at an end.
The crushing feeling was nearly unbearable. Not only had I lost Sonya mirrors, I had also blown a match-up that I claimed to not be an issue for me. Adding to that, it was the first time my fellow Oklahomies had watched me lose a tournament. They were still of support for me, but I feared I had set an unimpressive example for them and I don't think I'll get over that anytime soon.
I paced around outside to allow the day's events to settle into my mind's eye so I wouldn't let the salt get to me too much. Then I went back in to meet my friends, who asked if I wanted to go ahead and leave the venue since the three of us were no longer in the tournament - Raybone had entered a Soul Calibur 5 tournament and Lou had been eliminated early on in the MK9 event.
I had half a mind to go ahead and leave Plano. The thought of what people would make of my losses still burned like fire. The fact that I didn't get nearly as much offline practice as those other guys do only served to increase the amount of anger I felt. What would be the point of continuing to compete if all I had was online practice, which would not improve my offline instincts?
But the words that fell from my lips pretty much banished that sentiment completely.
"I owe it to MyGod to stay here and support him for when he makes it to the Grand Finals."
After all, MyGod had backed me throughout the event. How could I call myself his clan brother if I didn't do the same? There'd be a time to feel bad about my losses later.
They understood my decision, and so we stuck around. I watched some of the mixture of casuals and tournament fights before I turned to join MyGod and ScrubbyLicious at a nearby table in the bar. Tom Brady soon joined us at the table and discussions about our community erupted. I'll skip over the details of what we discussed, it's really a lot to cover here.
As the night progressed, the top four players of the MK9 brackets were revealed to be MyGod, Tom, Cat, and EMPEROR_SCAR, also known as KH Scar of the Kombat Houston crew. The pools for our game had not been streamed, but it was announced that the top 4 would be broadcast through the BoomGorillas channel after the current game finished up.
Some after-tourney casuals were going down while I was talking with Tom, including a set between Showtime and Armageddon. I went to the station where they were playing and gave an apology to Showtime for what MyGod said. His response was a shrug of his broad shoulders.
"You didn't say anything," he said.
Shortly after that, Armageddon completed his games with Showtime and I got my chance to have some casuals. It was then that Showtime finally decided to let loose his Johnny Cage, while I went with Sub-Zero. That...didn't go very well for me. He got some convincing revenge for the outcome of our tournament games. It also added further proof to Tom's words that the Cage match-up would be an obstacle for me.
But then we had to stop when a tournament organizer came over and said they needed to use the console for the purposes of streaming the top four players.
It was time for the Grand Finals to begin...well, to put it officially, it would be the Winner's Finals, Loser's Finals, and Grand Finals all in one.
The MK9 players moved towards the back of the bar, where the big set-up for our stream was erected. I had taken my seat, only to be greeted by MyGod asking if I wanted to sit up there with the streamers and commentate on the proceedings. At once there came that familiar sensation from EVO...I couldn't refuse the offer.
I joined Midnight63 at the streaming station and watched as the finalists prepared for the hottest battles of the night. The blood of a commentator began burning within my veins as we introduced ourselves to the stream viewers and the fights unfolded for all to see. You guys were watching the stream, I'm sure...so you know about my commentary. I can only hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did!
But looking back at my commentary, I found myself facepalming a couple of times. I had mispronounced Sub-Zero's 2 1 2 string as 2 1 2 4 (ugh!), getting myself mixed up between the two combo strings. I also feel I didn't go into enough depth of the game mechanics; more often than not, I had said things like "Good projectile!", "going into a blockstring," "nice anti-air!", etc. Compared to commentators such as Tom Brady and Sabin from the MLG events, mine seemed to pale in comparison. I really gotta touch it up. -___-
Another embarrassment to point out: who the HELL misspelled my name on the stream as GamerBlack90?! I swear to God, my name is among those that gets mislabeled more than any other name! It's only five letters, guys! It is not so fucking hard to get right! Come ooooooooon...
The MK9 tournament came to a close as EMP/KH Scar seized his victory. We were all surprised by his showing with his Skarlet and Freddy Krueger. I had played his Skarlet before - online, of course - but had never seen him using Freddy. My guess is this was one of those "save-the-best-for-last" occasions, and for him, it sure paid off. MyGod was completely unsure of what to do in both those match-ups, but he had still given a performance impressive enough to take second place, with Cat coming in third and Tom Brady at fourth.
By that point, my friends were exhausted and ready to leave. But I had one last thing to do before I could take my departure. Earlier, Armageddon and I had agreed to perform a runback, and I was not one to put off such things. We decided to have a first-to-five set with a familiar match-up: his Mileena versus my Sonya.
During the course of our series, Armageddon pointed out to me that the amount of viewers had reached around 550 while the MK9 top four was going down. My jaw dropped from the revelation. 550?! That was an amount even I didn't expect, given that our game had such little support in the southern scene. This gave me a flicker of hope for the state of our community.
Back to the first-to-five. I found myself countering Armageddon's cross-ups effectively with the use of my EX Cartwheel. This was something a friend had been advising me about repeatedly ever since I voiced my hatred of cross-ups. I usually tried to d1 out of cross-ups and didn't get much success, so this was a nice turning point.
"Well, well, xKhaoTikx ," I mumbled to myself, "seems like you were right."
In the end. I came out ahead at 5-0 and closed it out with a finisher I rarely ever perform: the Babality. I wasn't sure if I should feel bad about it or not, but the roaring laughter coming from around the station made it hard to do anything other than grin. And yes, Armageddon was involved among the ones laughing.
"That's the second time I got 5-0'ed and babied! Like, really?!" he yelled while trying to restrain his laughter.
After the series, Showtime asked if I wanted to money match. I told him I'm not much of a gambler and even if I was, my friends were impatient to go, so it would have to be at another time if he still wanted it. I really wanted to remain alongside the Texas group, for there was so much more training to be had and this scene brought something I rarely ever feel...a sense of belonging and purpose. And I'd be leaving it behind once again.
Before I left, Cat came over and said his good-byes, expressing his hopes that we'd meet again. I grinned and told him these words: "I'll be back for revenge." The both of us shared a laugh over that.
I departed the venue and joined Ray and Lou at the car, the last of the hype leaving my bloodstream. Since we were kind of hungry, we agreed to stop at a nearby Popeye's restaurant to fill up. As we docked onto the parking lot for Popeye's, my scalding disappointment from my tournament loss stabbed into me again.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," I seethed through my teeth as I exited the car, shut the door, and strode up to the building. If Lou and Ray ever heard what I said, they gave no indication.
We placed our orders and proceeded to get our drinks. While waiting on our food, we dissolved into a discussion regarding our thoughts on some players. The topic of some being arrogant happened to slip into the topic. I had quite a bit to say regarding that.
"Sometimes I wish I was an arrogant player myself...someone who is self-assured and is capable of holding his own against the big dogs. I often wish I was anything like CURBOLICOUS, Tom Brady, Pig Of The Hut...anybody who is strong mentally and doesn't get dragged down by something like...not being certain or whatever."
Yes, you heard me. I wish I was arrogant, regardless of any problems that come with it. But even then, I'm not foolish. I don't want to risk crossing that boundary. Thing is, I'm not really sure how to tackle such a concept, or if I even had the right to bear some pride. After how I did in TBF 9, I doubt I'd even earned it.
Our orders arrived and we grabbed them before heading back to the car outside. My thoughts turned back towards our MK scene for our home state. After attending that little Gamestop tourney in Norman some months ago, none of the players Lou and I encountered had contacted us about arranging for casuals. And SaibotMk had vanished. While it was a relief to see the Texas scene growing numerous and stronger, ours was...not something to boast about.
Pig of the Hut's words came to mind while I sat in the car. For a scene to grow, it takes a leader, somebody with balls and determination. If there was no leader, there'd be no growth, and if there was no growth, I couldn't expect to get past the barrier I had struck during that day.
But who could lead us in Oklahoma? Who could spark this progress?
I don't know if the answers are in my future, but one can only hope.
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And that's my story. Feedback is welcome! If you notice anything about this thread that is inaccurate and needs correcting, please let me know.
I had already published this thread regarding my participation at Texas Bar Fights 9 back in June, but it was lost due to TYM's server crash at the end of August. So I am reposting it here, copied and pasted directly from its twin incarnation at MKU. If you've read this already, there's no need for you to do so again, but it's here just in case.
As we speak, I am in the process of gathering opinions for a poll regarding the return of my tournament novels. If you want to vote and give your thoughts, follow the below link:
http://www.testyourmight.com/threads/my-tournament-novels.25351/
Now, read on and enjoy.
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As promised, this is my written account of my experiences in Texas Bar Fights 9, which took place on June 23rd.
Yeah, I've made it a tradition to share my story of the tournaments I go to. So I'll tell you right now: if you can't stomach reading long posts, I suggest you clear on out of here. For those who are interested in staying and reading, I welcome you all and thank you.
If you tuned in to the eleventh episode of DownFourCast, you might remember what I described about TBF 9. I'll be reposting that episode in my archives soon. (I missed the tenth episode; it got deleted from my archives before I got to uploading it. I have got to fight off the lazy spells)
So anyway...here goes.
Now as every player going to tournaments ought to know, you should never walk in there without having some practice beforehand. I'm pretty sure some would agree that the practice ought to last longer than one day and should be strictly offline, but given how miniscule the Oklahoma scene is for Mortal Kombat...we kinda didn't have much of a choice. Anything was better than nothing.
The practice was arranged one day before the event, on June 22nd, at RayboneKilla's residence. I arrived there a bit earlier than expected and was greeted by the sight of Ray's friends rocking sessions of Tekken 6. I took the time to get acquainted with them and was watching their sessions when I texted Ray, only for him to walk through the door immediately after I had sent the text. Lou (Raidenwins) also joined us to practice up in spite of the fact that he was running on two hours of sleep due to work. Talk about good timing!
After watching more Tekken 6 gameplay, I let Ray walk me through a bit of the basics for that game. It definitely felt nothing like MK9, but it was not the first time I had set foot in a 3D fighting environment. One factor I took notice of was how HUGE the commands list was for each character. Like, I didn't even try to count, it had like around 100 or 200 at the most. So much to memorize! I wondered how anybody would be patient enough to memorize that list...obviously Ray is one such person since he plays the game. LOL.
We got right into Mortal Kombat casuals after that little tutorial. As I expected, Ray's Reptile and Kabal quickly put me on alert, but thankfully I had a slew of new tricks to throw to the mix...hat tricks, if you will. I had picked up Kung Lao as a precautionary measure for offline Kabals in case my Sonya fell short, despite that I did not feel concerned about the match-up. This would wind up costing me later on in the story...read on and you will see what I mean.
Soon, Ray had to run an errand and thus Lou and I were left to get some practice in. It was then that Lou was introduced to Quan Chi's Rune Trap. I guess he met very few Quan Chi players in his time, because he was asking me if there was any way to escape it. I filled him in.
Then Lou had to take his leave before Ray got back. After all, the drive to Plano would last about three hours and he needed to be at full strength. Once Ray did make his return, we picked up our practice from where we left off, and kept at it until my friend decided enough was enough.
He offered to let me crash at his place for the night, and I took him up on the offer, deciding it would make it easier for Lou to collect us in the morning and it would allow me to ensure that Ray would be awake on time. Before getting some sleep, I performed my usual combo practice in Training Mode and cleared a couple missions on the Challenge Tower, which Ray had not fully completed. It was barely past 2:00 in the morning when I ceased my gameplay and put my controller on its charge cable before plopping flat onto the sofa.
I can't help but point out that I felt a little discouraged from the events of the night. When we made the switch to Mortal Kombat, the amount of players in the room had decreased quite a bit and there were groans about how the game worked, the comments being targeted at zoning and projectiles and what-not. Now I know they didn't make a big deal out of it and they are entitled to their opinions, but when you're someone who's trying to give life to the scene you support, hearing negative feedback can start to make you wonder if it's worth it. Didn't help that Oklahoma's scene was so small, either. I wondered if there'd be any hope for our MK players at this rate...
Anyway, before going to sleep, I used my iPhone to log in at MKU and put the link to the BoomGorillas stream channel in the shoutbox. Then I put my phone away and moved myself onto the floor so I could sleep there, since my shifting position on the sofa was disturbing Ray's cats. I didn't have any problem with sleeping on floors...at one point, I slept on my bedroom floor quite a lot, mostly because I couldn't be bothered to crawl onto my bed, haha.
The morning came quickly and I was pulled into reality again by the sound of my phone's alarm, which I had set the night before. I disabled it and noticed a text from Lou. He was on his way to the place. So I called Ray's phone, then cancelled the call and proceeded towards his room to notice him rousing from his slumber, the sound of his phone having awakened him. I normally feel bad about waking people in the mornings, but since Texas Bar Fights would start at like 2:00 P.M. I had to ensure we were ready.
In around twenty minutes, Ray had gotten himself ready to go and Lou had walked through the door. After collecting our belongings, I requested to be allowed to stop by my house. Lou consented, and so off we went...well, after Ray made a stop at his friend's house to drop something off, I should say. Then we trekked over to Oklahoma City and got to my place.
I swiftly exited the car and entered my house. The first room I went into was my own. I discarded my clothes that I had worn the previous night and slipped on a new set, including my good old Mortal Kombat t-shirt.
C'mon...whenever I go into an MK tournament, do you think I am not going to sport something that supports my scene? To do otherwise would be nonsense!
After getting dressed, I freshened up for the day and grabbed some food to take with me on the trip, since I wanted to cut down on our expenses a bit. Once that was done, I headed back out and rejoined my friends in our vehicle. The journey to Plano began the moment the car peeled itself off the driveway and barreled down the roads.
Apparently Ray had a bit of a similar idea, because we first stopped at a McDonald's to let him get something. Once that was done, we headed off towards our destination. I decided to use my iPhone to indulge in some soundtrack from one of my favorite gaming franchises so as to put my mind at ease.
Just for the heck of it, here's an example of one such soundtrack.
And don't go making any posts hating on Sonic the Hedgehog, 'cause I don't give a fuck.
Before anybody asks, and I ought to have pointed this out earlier...SaibotMK did not join us on this journey. He sold his PS3 some months ago. I'm not even sure where he is now; we've lost contact with him. I can only hope he's doing okay.
In what seemed like a matter of minutes, but what was really around two hours worth of travel, we crossed over into Texas territory and parked at a rest stop. I was immediately reminded of all the rest stops where I'd disembark from that Greyhound bus on my way to Vegas last year, when EVO 2011 was going down. Damn...has it really been almost a year since then? Time flies.
Soon, we were tearing off down the highway again. It didn't take much longer to reach the city of Plano, and after some bouts of confusion we eventually found the venue where Texas Bar Fights would host its ninth round, the Franchise Grill and Sports Bar. I exhaled a deep breath of air and exited the car, preparing myself for what would lie ahead.
Once we ascertained that we had our needed equipment, we entered the bar.
No sooner had I walked through the front door did a familiar sight greet my eyes. People had mentioned the possibility of Tom Brady attending this event, and it became a fact as I watched the man approaching the station where the MK9 brackets would be going down. A smile glided across my face as I moved to greet him after almost a year since EVO 2011. It had been far too long.
The next to greet me was a player I had met in the seventh round of TBF, Armageddon, a Mileena player I had defeated in the brackets. He expressed a wish for a salty runback. With a smirk, I resolved to make it happen, regardless of whether we met during or after the tournament.
In the midst of watching some MK9 casuals, I remembered I had to get my registration done. Thankfully the wait in line was not terribly long. I was assigned a name tag and a slip on which I'd give the needed information about what I would be competing in. The $20 was paid, and I trekked back to the front of the bar to continue soaking in some entertainment.
Grolarbears, @Tmac0544, and RM_xVAPORx joined us during the casuals. That was my first time meeting them, as we had always talked through my stream and MKU. Other arrivals included BigMilk, KH Showtime, KH Cat (whom I hadn't seen since EVO also), ScrubbyLicious88, Coosco, Crazy_xMyGodx_88, and so on. Damn, the bar was getting packed and the turnout for MK9 was lookin' hot!
I eventually got my chance to get in on the casuals against Tom. I'll leave out the details, but needless to say his Cage had given me a rough time. The match-ups become very different when you transition from online to offline play and I had never played against an offline Cage before. After we finished, he told me I needed serious work in the match-up. I could only stand there wondering why I couldn't get some of my moves to work so I could get out of some of that horrendous pressure.
It wasn't long before they announced the beginning of the tournament. My first opponent was KH Showtime. As we took our places, I expected him to bust out Johnny Cage since it was widely agreed on that Reptile had difficulty against Sonya, and Showtime was known to be a Reptile player. But he actually did call his Reptile to battle, a move which took me by surprise. He took the first game in the set, and after falling to an EX Elbow Dash Wake-Up near the end of the second game I thought I was done for...but by a stroke of luck, he dropped his combo and I came back to win the second game, then took the third.
Naturally Showtime was pissed at the comeback. I couldn't bring myself to blame him; knowing me, I would have been just as upset if it were I in his position. Before I left to report the scores, he declared, "That won't happen again."
Next opponent was my fellow 88 brother, MyGod. We played Sonya mirrors...and it was here that my usual patience started to wear down because he kept managing to get the life lead. I couldn't reverse the situation and he won 2-0, sending me to Loser's Brackets. The fact I had lost Sonya mirrors again, especially in a tournament, sent me into a state of deep frustration and self-resentment. I couldn't explain it, but playing the mirror was beginning to psyche me out.
I still had a chance, though...as long as I didn't lose another set.
Next opponent was GrolarBears. Now I must point out something here: ever since I had played him for the first time on my stream channel, his Noob Saibot was a bit above the average Noob. However, the more he played me and the other guys who attended my show, the more he grew...enough to even take an MLG set off me during its online ladder in May. I can't help but feel astonished about his growth as a player. So going into that set, I knew I had to be ready for anything.
After a hard-fought battle, I came out ahead at 2-0. As he was in the Loser's Bracket alongside myself (sent there by KH Cat), this meant he was eliminated. I felt bad from seeing his reaction to the loss, but as MyGod said, "it had to be one of us."
As I waited for my next shot in the tournament, I took some chances to try and calm my mind however I could...meditating, if you will. As everyone knows, I take my tournament performances to heart, and I couldn't afford to slack at that point. Although, it was kinda difficult to concentrate given the level of noise, and did anybody in the bar ever hear of air conditioning? The heat was getting ridiculous.
Soon, I came face to face with Vapor's Smoke in the tournament. We were halfway through our first game when we realized that he had been using the wrong button configuration, which explained his lack of breakers. We had to restart the set after he corrected this problem. In spite of this, I triumphed 2-0 to eliminate Vapor from the event.
Then came ScrubbyLicious88, if I remember the brackets correctly. I'm guessing he had a lack of Sonya experience, if the matches were any indication, because I won against his Kung Lao and Jax to advance in the tournament. He didn't seem to be watching for my EX Cartwheel or my stance mix-ups. Regardless, the set was a good one.
For my next match, I was shocked to discover that Showtime would be facing me again. At this point, it could only be one of us who could remain in the tournament. I braced myself for his Reptile, but instead his cursor went over to Sonya and I was like, "Damn it, mirrors again..." I'm not sure if he made this change because of what he noticed in my fights with MyGod, but I went into the fights as calm as I could be. After a close set of games and a lot of mistakes from both of us, I managed to win again at 2-0. I was quite ecstatic from winning the mirrors.
But the excitement turned to discomfort when MyGod and Showtime degenerated into a heated argument. You see, during my rematch set with Showtime, MyGod was calling out all his support to me while, erm...taking shots at Showtime's Reptile, best way I can put it. I didn't approve of that; even though I knew MyGod was only having my back, I still think the sporting conduct could have gone both ways rather than one. I felt a pang of guilt as the argument subsided and Showtime walked away. MyGod seemed to have forgotten so quickly that I was only lucky to have won against his Reptile because of one dropped combo...
The incident was pushed out of my mind when my next match was called. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest when I realized it was KH Cat I would be playing against. One word came to mind the moment this match was declared: Kabal. I figured it was time to try and prove why Sonya vs. Kabal didn't bother me as much as it did other Sonya players.
Unfortunately, this ambition didn't hold up. Cat took the first game, leaving me teetering between the chances of victory and defeat. I went back to the character select and pondered over what I needed to do. I had my back-up characters, Kung Lao and Raiden, reserved for a situation like this...but I was suddenly reluctant to pull them out.
I'll explain my reasons.
For Kung Lao, I hadn't had much experience using him, so I felt he wasn't tournament-ready. It also didn't help that when Cat played Coosco's Kung Lao, Coosco looked so flustered during that match-up. I decided that Cat was too familiar with the match-up for it to be worth a shot.
As for Raiden...when I broke him out against Tom during our casuals from earlier, the Thunder God had not gotten a single win. That didn't make the idea of using him appealing. Looking back, I kinda wish I had picked Raiden now. Unlike Sonya, he had the tools to make anything happen against Kabal.
I stuck to my Sonya, knowing full well what the risk would be. And even though I came close in the second game, my efforts were in vain. Cat triumphed 2-0, and my progress was at an end.
The crushing feeling was nearly unbearable. Not only had I lost Sonya mirrors, I had also blown a match-up that I claimed to not be an issue for me. Adding to that, it was the first time my fellow Oklahomies had watched me lose a tournament. They were still of support for me, but I feared I had set an unimpressive example for them and I don't think I'll get over that anytime soon.
I paced around outside to allow the day's events to settle into my mind's eye so I wouldn't let the salt get to me too much. Then I went back in to meet my friends, who asked if I wanted to go ahead and leave the venue since the three of us were no longer in the tournament - Raybone had entered a Soul Calibur 5 tournament and Lou had been eliminated early on in the MK9 event.
I had half a mind to go ahead and leave Plano. The thought of what people would make of my losses still burned like fire. The fact that I didn't get nearly as much offline practice as those other guys do only served to increase the amount of anger I felt. What would be the point of continuing to compete if all I had was online practice, which would not improve my offline instincts?
But the words that fell from my lips pretty much banished that sentiment completely.
"I owe it to MyGod to stay here and support him for when he makes it to the Grand Finals."
After all, MyGod had backed me throughout the event. How could I call myself his clan brother if I didn't do the same? There'd be a time to feel bad about my losses later.
They understood my decision, and so we stuck around. I watched some of the mixture of casuals and tournament fights before I turned to join MyGod and ScrubbyLicious at a nearby table in the bar. Tom Brady soon joined us at the table and discussions about our community erupted. I'll skip over the details of what we discussed, it's really a lot to cover here.
As the night progressed, the top four players of the MK9 brackets were revealed to be MyGod, Tom, Cat, and EMPEROR_SCAR, also known as KH Scar of the Kombat Houston crew. The pools for our game had not been streamed, but it was announced that the top 4 would be broadcast through the BoomGorillas channel after the current game finished up.
Some after-tourney casuals were going down while I was talking with Tom, including a set between Showtime and Armageddon. I went to the station where they were playing and gave an apology to Showtime for what MyGod said. His response was a shrug of his broad shoulders.
"You didn't say anything," he said.
Shortly after that, Armageddon completed his games with Showtime and I got my chance to have some casuals. It was then that Showtime finally decided to let loose his Johnny Cage, while I went with Sub-Zero. That...didn't go very well for me. He got some convincing revenge for the outcome of our tournament games. It also added further proof to Tom's words that the Cage match-up would be an obstacle for me.
But then we had to stop when a tournament organizer came over and said they needed to use the console for the purposes of streaming the top four players.
It was time for the Grand Finals to begin...well, to put it officially, it would be the Winner's Finals, Loser's Finals, and Grand Finals all in one.
The MK9 players moved towards the back of the bar, where the big set-up for our stream was erected. I had taken my seat, only to be greeted by MyGod asking if I wanted to sit up there with the streamers and commentate on the proceedings. At once there came that familiar sensation from EVO...I couldn't refuse the offer.
I joined Midnight63 at the streaming station and watched as the finalists prepared for the hottest battles of the night. The blood of a commentator began burning within my veins as we introduced ourselves to the stream viewers and the fights unfolded for all to see. You guys were watching the stream, I'm sure...so you know about my commentary. I can only hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did!
But looking back at my commentary, I found myself facepalming a couple of times. I had mispronounced Sub-Zero's 2 1 2 string as 2 1 2 4 (ugh!), getting myself mixed up between the two combo strings. I also feel I didn't go into enough depth of the game mechanics; more often than not, I had said things like "Good projectile!", "going into a blockstring," "nice anti-air!", etc. Compared to commentators such as Tom Brady and Sabin from the MLG events, mine seemed to pale in comparison. I really gotta touch it up. -___-
Another embarrassment to point out: who the HELL misspelled my name on the stream as GamerBlack90?! I swear to God, my name is among those that gets mislabeled more than any other name! It's only five letters, guys! It is not so fucking hard to get right! Come ooooooooon...
The MK9 tournament came to a close as EMP/KH Scar seized his victory. We were all surprised by his showing with his Skarlet and Freddy Krueger. I had played his Skarlet before - online, of course - but had never seen him using Freddy. My guess is this was one of those "save-the-best-for-last" occasions, and for him, it sure paid off. MyGod was completely unsure of what to do in both those match-ups, but he had still given a performance impressive enough to take second place, with Cat coming in third and Tom Brady at fourth.
By that point, my friends were exhausted and ready to leave. But I had one last thing to do before I could take my departure. Earlier, Armageddon and I had agreed to perform a runback, and I was not one to put off such things. We decided to have a first-to-five set with a familiar match-up: his Mileena versus my Sonya.
During the course of our series, Armageddon pointed out to me that the amount of viewers had reached around 550 while the MK9 top four was going down. My jaw dropped from the revelation. 550?! That was an amount even I didn't expect, given that our game had such little support in the southern scene. This gave me a flicker of hope for the state of our community.
Back to the first-to-five. I found myself countering Armageddon's cross-ups effectively with the use of my EX Cartwheel. This was something a friend had been advising me about repeatedly ever since I voiced my hatred of cross-ups. I usually tried to d1 out of cross-ups and didn't get much success, so this was a nice turning point.
"Well, well, xKhaoTikx ," I mumbled to myself, "seems like you were right."
In the end. I came out ahead at 5-0 and closed it out with a finisher I rarely ever perform: the Babality. I wasn't sure if I should feel bad about it or not, but the roaring laughter coming from around the station made it hard to do anything other than grin. And yes, Armageddon was involved among the ones laughing.
"That's the second time I got 5-0'ed and babied! Like, really?!" he yelled while trying to restrain his laughter.
After the series, Showtime asked if I wanted to money match. I told him I'm not much of a gambler and even if I was, my friends were impatient to go, so it would have to be at another time if he still wanted it. I really wanted to remain alongside the Texas group, for there was so much more training to be had and this scene brought something I rarely ever feel...a sense of belonging and purpose. And I'd be leaving it behind once again.
Before I left, Cat came over and said his good-byes, expressing his hopes that we'd meet again. I grinned and told him these words: "I'll be back for revenge." The both of us shared a laugh over that.
I departed the venue and joined Ray and Lou at the car, the last of the hype leaving my bloodstream. Since we were kind of hungry, we agreed to stop at a nearby Popeye's restaurant to fill up. As we docked onto the parking lot for Popeye's, my scalding disappointment from my tournament loss stabbed into me again.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," I seethed through my teeth as I exited the car, shut the door, and strode up to the building. If Lou and Ray ever heard what I said, they gave no indication.
We placed our orders and proceeded to get our drinks. While waiting on our food, we dissolved into a discussion regarding our thoughts on some players. The topic of some being arrogant happened to slip into the topic. I had quite a bit to say regarding that.
"Sometimes I wish I was an arrogant player myself...someone who is self-assured and is capable of holding his own against the big dogs. I often wish I was anything like CURBOLICOUS, Tom Brady, Pig Of The Hut...anybody who is strong mentally and doesn't get dragged down by something like...not being certain or whatever."
Yes, you heard me. I wish I was arrogant, regardless of any problems that come with it. But even then, I'm not foolish. I don't want to risk crossing that boundary. Thing is, I'm not really sure how to tackle such a concept, or if I even had the right to bear some pride. After how I did in TBF 9, I doubt I'd even earned it.
Our orders arrived and we grabbed them before heading back to the car outside. My thoughts turned back towards our MK scene for our home state. After attending that little Gamestop tourney in Norman some months ago, none of the players Lou and I encountered had contacted us about arranging for casuals. And SaibotMk had vanished. While it was a relief to see the Texas scene growing numerous and stronger, ours was...not something to boast about.
Pig of the Hut's words came to mind while I sat in the car. For a scene to grow, it takes a leader, somebody with balls and determination. If there was no leader, there'd be no growth, and if there was no growth, I couldn't expect to get past the barrier I had struck during that day.
But who could lead us in Oklahoma? Who could spark this progress?
I don't know if the answers are in my future, but one can only hope.
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And that's my story. Feedback is welcome! If you notice anything about this thread that is inaccurate and needs correcting, please let me know.
