The venue was nice. A wide open hardwood floor space was reserved on the second floor. Fold out tables were set up along the window walls and held multiple setups. Doubles was already deep in the bracket when I arrived. There were a lot of people there. Best of all, it wasn't smelly like some other venues.
As soon as I arrived, I went to the side table where two guys were running various tournaments on laptops. The setup was nice, and right away I could tell these guys knew what they were doing. One look at their setup dispelled any doubts I initially had about the organization of the event. The first laptop was used to run brackets for the side games including and not limited to Third Strike, Brawl, and Arcana. The second setup was ballin'. A laptop was hooked up to a flatscreen LCD panel that I would estimate to be about 23 inches. On the monitor was displayed the entire bracket. This is the setup that would later be used for the SF4 singles tournament. The monitor made for an easy-to-view, centralized location for all 40+ participants to look at, instead of crowding around a 15 inch laptop. Players would know ahead of time who they would play next, and the organizers called up matches on queue during matches that were in progress. Very well executed.
I talked to the guy running the laptop+monitor setup. This was the first time I had been to an SF4 tournament in Chicago. I used my relative anonymity to play a little tomfoolery with the organizer. I had my bag with me, and in it was my trusty Hakufu stick. I looked like an average college student. I played that to my advantage, and acted like a total tourney noob, asking the organizer all these scrub questions. The following dialogue is not verbatim of the conversation we had, but it is kind of close.
"Hey, what's going on here?"
"We're doing an event with a series of tournaments for video games like Street Fighter 4."
"Oh, cool! Can I play?"
"Yeah, sure! It's just $12 and you can enter all the tournaments you want!"
"Oh, I have to pay?"
"Yeah."
"So, like, where does this money go? Is this event for charity?"
"Err...no."
"Ah. So, you guys provide the controllers?"
"BYOC."
"BYOC?"
"Bring your own controller."
"Aww."
"I'm sure someone will lend you theirs."
The singles tournament did not start until about 5:00. I had arrived at 2:30. I spent the time talking with various players and sitting in the study room adjacent the tournament room to spend some quiet time to mull over the matchups against the entire cast. I did not play one single game of casuals. Once signups had started, I walked over to the tournament station to sign up for SF4. I decided not to sign up under my regular alias for this tournament. I wanted to do something wacky. I thought to myself, "what would be something funny and awkward for tournament runners to call out when calling the matches up?" I wrote down on the sign-up sheet my alias for that day.
"I Love Hentai"
I'm sure a number of players that day got a nice chuckle out of the guy yelling over the bullhorn for my matches.
I had also signed up for Third Strike that day. I really didn't care about it much. Humbag (James) and Bob Washington (Eric) kept asking to use my stick for 3s that day. James commented on how well he played on it, as did Eric, calling it "the Third Strike stick." James also borrowed it for his SF4 matches from time to time.
Before the bracket was completed, I surveyed the room full of SF4 players. I looked at every player one by one and tagged them in my head as "dangerous." These were players who I would have not liked to see in the tournament--players who could either give me a run for my money or totally rape me. I watched a couple of matches from the doubles tournament, and found a couple of players whom I had never met before that possessed some level of competence in the game. The other players I tagged as "dangerous" were strong players I have seen perform well at other tournaments, at gatherings, or online. I came up with a list of over ten people.
Meta (SG) - He placed 3rd in the inaugural Nickel City bi-weekly. He also plays Sagat--one of Rog's worst matchups, if not the worst. He would definitely be a tough match.
Dan Nguyen (BA) - Mario's friend, originally from New York. I saw him doing the s.HK to EX Rush Upper combos in the doubles tournament. I knew he was proficient with Boxer.
Domingo (RY) - Though I went in knowing that I had his number in his previous gatherings at his place, I also knew he was hungry. I wouldn't know if he'd been putting in the time to get up there until I would play him.
Marcus (BI) - Marcus is just a smart player. He's a combo master and learns very quickly. I definitely didn't want to see his Bison in tournament.
fLoE (everyone) - Lol.
Humbag (BA) - Definitely didn't want to run into James in the tournament. His Boxer is just so much better than mine in many ways.
J-Money (BA) - I had never met J-Money before this tournament, but he had consistently placed high in the Screenz SF4 tournaments. Even Syxx has said good things about him. Syxx rarely says good things about anyone.
Braiden Jadol (RY) - He won a round against fLoE in the doubles tournament. He won that round pretty decisively. That's good enough for me.
Spriggan X (AK) - I hate Akuma. Spriggan plays Akuma pretty well. I never even played his Akuma before. He was at one of Domingo's gatherings and beat me pretty convincingly with his Ryu.
Douglas (SG) - He placed 2nd in the second Nickel City bi-weekly. He uses Sagat's s.RH like there's no tomorrow. Very dangerous.
Mario (CH) - Though Mario hadn't played well in any tournaments previous, personally, I know he's been putting in the time necessary. Last time I played him at Domingo's, I could tell he had studied the Rog/Chun match-up like he was going to be tested on it. He punished me at every opportunity and made me look like a novice. God knows how much he has improved since then.
The tournament gods would prove to shine their favor upon me that day. Out of the 11 people I listed, only four of them were seeded in the top half--my half--of the bracket. Two of them were even paired up in the first round! Meta, Dan Nguyen, J-Money, and Domingo were the only heavy-hitters that I was worried about that were seeded in my half of the bracket. Meta and J-Money were paired up first round. What was it that I sacrificed to the tournament gods before that Saturday? It must have been something pretty good.
My first match was against Donny More (BA). I dispatched him fairly handily without losing a round. My next match was against some guy named G2 (RY). Apparently there were two G2's at the tournament. This guy played a little better than my last opponent, but as far as I recall, I did not lose a round to him, either. My next match was against Lyle Carating (CA). He had defeated the solid Ken player who was on Braiden Jadol's team in the doubles tournament. I knew he wouldn't be a simple pushover. I talked to James before the match, and asked him for some match-up advice.
"Block low" was basically what he told me. Before the match, I retreated to the study to contemplate over the matchup.
Use safe jump j.RH to bait wake-up Cannon Spike. Punish with dash up throw or sweep.
Block low to punish random Spiral Arrow and c.LP -> block against any Hooligans.
Cammy can't deal with armor very well, so use EX Rushes.
When the match came up, Lyle did not play as well as I thought he would. I, on the other hand, played pretty well, I think. Though, to be fair, anyone would think they played pretty well after winning a tournament match losing just a single round. Lyle seemed to be a bit confused against my turtle style. Just as James had called it.
My next match was against Dan Nguyen (BA). I knew this one was going to be a battle of will. Yet, my mind was more focused on landing flashy tactics like throwing his Rog out of EX Punches, or landing anti-air TAP and juggling into Ultra. When the match was called up, I was a nervous wreck. This match was the closest match I had all tournament. Each game went to the third and final round. Dan never threw out random EX Punches, so I never had the opportunity to throw him out of them. I did, however, land anti-air TAP -> Ultra on one of his random jump-backs. I played extra patiently, as I had asked Mario before the match about Dan's playstyle.
"Expect a lot of the 'New York'."
By the "New York," Mario means jump-back-attacks. Over. And over. Indeed, Dan did "New York." He "New Yorked" a lot. At one point in the match, Dan was against the corner, and I was full screen away. I think he did 4 or 5 consecutive jump back fierces. I knew he would eventually get tired of "New Yorking" me, and would come up and finally play the close range game.
Lots of stuff happened. Aside from the jump back fierce barrage and the TAP -> Ultra, much of the match is a blur to me. In the end, I won in the last round of the decisive game. My hands were shaking afterward. Literally.
After Dan, I played Domingo (RY) in Winner's Semi-Finals. I dispatched him fairly convincingly. He needs to learn that match-up fast. Especially with the high amount of Balrog players out there.
My next match was fLoE, who decided to play Boxer for the tournament. By that time I had made it to Winner's Finals and secured a spot in the top 3. That match was rape. At least I won a round.
In Loser's Finals, I had to play my buddy James. As I said earlier, his Rog is just too strong. At least I won a round on him, too!
I LOVE HENTAI WINS 3RD PLACE! (Granted, he had the easiest bracket in the world.) w00t.
In fact, the top 4 placers were all Balrogs! YEAAAHHHH!
1st. fLoE
2nd. Humbag
3rd. I Love Hentai
4th. J-Money
After the tournament, I picked up a mushroom burger from White Palace Grill, and headed home.
