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EVO 2019!!
Aug. 12th, 2019 12:26 amLast weekend, I took a little vacation to go to Las Vegas for EVO, the world's biggest and premier-est fighting games tournament! It happens there every year, and this is the second time I've been. It's *wonderful*.
For people who care about fighting games, this is (arguably) the place to be. For this community, it is like the Super Bowl, like the NYC Marathon, and like Christmas morning all at once. Champions will be crowned, you get to compete and see how well your training has paid off, and lots of Important Game Announcements happen! There were about 9000 competitors coming to EVO in total, and about 1900 of them were there for Tekken.
I signed up to compete for two different games, Tekken 7 (which I practice pretty seriously) and Samurai Shodown (which I haven't, but then it just came out). Both tournaments were set to start on Friday, so my plan was to get there on Thursday afternoon to get settled in before the battles.
Took Thursday off, got to the airport just fine, ran into some NorCal Tekken folks, including Andy, who's this warm, encouraging fatherly figure for Bay Area Tekken-ists. And hanging out with Andy was your favorite famous professional Tekken player from Thailand, Book! Niiice!
Unfortunately, my plane on Thursday got cancelled.
Fortunately, I got on the first plane out on Friday morning! More than enough time to get to Vegas, get settled in, take a little nap, and warm up before my matches!
The event happens in the convention center at Mandalay Bay. It's *enormous*.
My dad was visiting toooo! He appreciates the hobby. I think he understands it in terms of competitive poker, which is his game. He hung out with me in the convention center, took in the scene, learned that cosplay is a thing, thought about getting some T-shirts, but then thought better of it.
Critically, he was there to watch my first match, in which I trounced a relatively new Tekken player. (he was a cool, friendly guy; asked for tips after the match) ... the match that makes you look like an unstoppable badass is the one you want your father to see.
I ended up going 4-1 on Friday, squeaking it out and escaping my first-round pool by defeating a dude who used to play with my buddy Paul, back in the DC area, years ago. (storylines last *years* and Tekken players are often grown adults). I was elated! I've never made it out of my pool at a big tournament before.
What happened next was probably the most interesting bit, competitively.
Once the brackets settled out, it became clear that I would play a specific person on Saturday, and I stalked him out online. I found out what character he was going to use: Hwoarang, a Korean character who fights with tae kwon do. Complicated character, lots of little things you have to keep track of. Can be a hassle to fight against.
So what I did, I found people I knew who play that character, and asked for tips! I found Rob From The Bay Area and Vasil from Seattle and asked for pointers. Vasil sat down with me for like a half hour to work on the matchup, and he gave me really concrete tips.
And they worked! I beat that dude! The tips probably pushed me over; it was close. But in the end, I picked my favorite stage, and I got him.
My last match, I lost, but it was super close. Came down to like one guess situation, and my opponent clutched it out. So I got eliminated from the tournament at 5-2, and I was super happy with that. Tied for 257th place, out of like 1900 competitors.
Super good time overall. Also the finals on Sunday were extremely hype, wonderful things for games got announced, there's a new Guilty Gear game coming next year (woooo!), and the whole thing was a party. Yay for devoting a weekend to the thing we love!
Also super lovely to get to hang out with my dad and share the thing with him! <3
If you want more posts (including pictures!), see the relevant posts on my other blarg: https://alexr-fightgames.tumblr.com/tagged/evo-2019
For people who care about fighting games, this is (arguably) the place to be. For this community, it is like the Super Bowl, like the NYC Marathon, and like Christmas morning all at once. Champions will be crowned, you get to compete and see how well your training has paid off, and lots of Important Game Announcements happen! There were about 9000 competitors coming to EVO in total, and about 1900 of them were there for Tekken.
I signed up to compete for two different games, Tekken 7 (which I practice pretty seriously) and Samurai Shodown (which I haven't, but then it just came out). Both tournaments were set to start on Friday, so my plan was to get there on Thursday afternoon to get settled in before the battles.
Took Thursday off, got to the airport just fine, ran into some NorCal Tekken folks, including Andy, who's this warm, encouraging fatherly figure for Bay Area Tekken-ists. And hanging out with Andy was your favorite famous professional Tekken player from Thailand, Book! Niiice!
Unfortunately, my plane on Thursday got cancelled.
Fortunately, I got on the first plane out on Friday morning! More than enough time to get to Vegas, get settled in, take a little nap, and warm up before my matches!
The event happens in the convention center at Mandalay Bay. It's *enormous*.
My dad was visiting toooo! He appreciates the hobby. I think he understands it in terms of competitive poker, which is his game. He hung out with me in the convention center, took in the scene, learned that cosplay is a thing, thought about getting some T-shirts, but then thought better of it.
Critically, he was there to watch my first match, in which I trounced a relatively new Tekken player. (he was a cool, friendly guy; asked for tips after the match) ... the match that makes you look like an unstoppable badass is the one you want your father to see.
I ended up going 4-1 on Friday, squeaking it out and escaping my first-round pool by defeating a dude who used to play with my buddy Paul, back in the DC area, years ago. (storylines last *years* and Tekken players are often grown adults). I was elated! I've never made it out of my pool at a big tournament before.
What happened next was probably the most interesting bit, competitively.
Once the brackets settled out, it became clear that I would play a specific person on Saturday, and I stalked him out online. I found out what character he was going to use: Hwoarang, a Korean character who fights with tae kwon do. Complicated character, lots of little things you have to keep track of. Can be a hassle to fight against.
So what I did, I found people I knew who play that character, and asked for tips! I found Rob From The Bay Area and Vasil from Seattle and asked for pointers. Vasil sat down with me for like a half hour to work on the matchup, and he gave me really concrete tips.
And they worked! I beat that dude! The tips probably pushed me over; it was close. But in the end, I picked my favorite stage, and I got him.
My last match, I lost, but it was super close. Came down to like one guess situation, and my opponent clutched it out. So I got eliminated from the tournament at 5-2, and I was super happy with that. Tied for 257th place, out of like 1900 competitors.
Super good time overall. Also the finals on Sunday were extremely hype, wonderful things for games got announced, there's a new Guilty Gear game coming next year (woooo!), and the whole thing was a party. Yay for devoting a weekend to the thing we love!
Also super lovely to get to hang out with my dad and share the thing with him! <3
If you want more posts (including pictures!), see the relevant posts on my other blarg: https://alexr-fightgames.tumblr.com/tagged/evo-2019
