Best Wishes to Iowans at PowerUp!

I guess I'm a tad late with this (Gosh, why are all the major tournaments 3 day affairs now?). Indeed, there is an Evo Qualifier tournament this weekend in Cincinnati, Ohio, PowerUp. Two Iowa players, Billy "Funked" and Scott "Xiang" are attending. Although bred out of 3D fighters, both of them have taken up MvC3. They are among the best supporters of the community on the eastern side of the state. Look for them on the stream today. Good luck, guys!

Video of Grand Finals Set From Brawl Doubles at Joker's Monthly 4/23/11

I recommend watching this on Youtube, PCity has provided nice time tags that take the video to the start of each game in the set.

Results from Dubuque MvC3 Weeklies #5, 4/26/11

1. Hogosha (Ryu/Storm/Haggar)
2. NGamer3k (Wesker/Storm/Chun)
3. Olli (Wolverine/Zero/Task)
4. MysticBill
5. Keela
6. DTJB
7. Jackie

I feel like I'm definitely getting better at this game. I like these tournaments, because I am able to get steady and consistent competition to the end of gauging my progress. I didn't have a chance to play Bill's main team (who beat me in Cedar Rapids) and Keela decided to run Hsien-Ko in his team this week (arguably the worst character in the game right now), so it's kind of difficult to say how much better I have gotten.

Full Results - Joker's Monthly #21, Des Moines, IA, 4/23/11

Brawl Singles (22 entrants)


1. Fino (Olimar)
2. Joker (Snake)
3. Future (MK, Marth, ICs)
4. Trent (Sonic)
5. FAE (Lucas, MK)
5. Razor (DDD, MK)
7. MetalMusicMan (Falco)
7. Tmacc (Diddy, MK, DDD, Rob)

Brawl Doubles (8 entrants) Bracket

1. Joker & PCity (Snake + Diddy)
2. MetalMusicMan & FAE (DDD + Lucas)
3. Bpow & Future (Wario + MK)
4. JLo & Becca
5. Thugz & MegaRobMan
5. CBK & BC
7. Yink & Wang
7. Tmacc & JoWii

MvC3 (6 entrants) Bracket

1. Joker (Wesker/Dante/Task)
2. Blank Mauser (Dante/Doom/Phoenix)
3. NGamer3k (Wesker/Storm/Chun)
4. Captain Love
5. Uli
5. CBK

I don't know my placing in singles because the bracket disappeared. Well, I do technically because I didn't win a single set for the second consecutive Smash tournament (Lost to Bpow and Tyser)! I received copious amounts of byes in losers bracket-- whatever that means.

Once again traditional fighters received no love, the future of this side tournament is not bright.

Someone Call the Authorities: Jayford Has a MvC3 Blog

It's true. My man, Jay Hartford aka "Indianaz Finest" has a blog to help out all of you Marvel scrubs out there. Very informative for beginners and even has some sprinkled gems for intermediate players. All this blog needs is credibility, win some tournaments and live up to that name, Jay!

Here's a taste:

"I should probably be finishing my homework right now, but I decided to start this blog instead. I’m not naturally good at many things. Honestly, MvC2 and MvC3 might be one of the few things I have some natural talent in. I know a ton of people who want to get better, but have no clue. I have a Dazzle video capture device that I bought for Smash, but I never play anymore. So I decided to make this blog to tell people how not to suck."

Results from Missouri Gaming Championships, Columbia, MO, 4/16/11

I'm reporting this last because I have another article relating to this event that will be a future post. Due to whatever reason (I'm going to chalk it up to Smasher absentmindedness), I was unable to acquire the full results from the melee tournament because I was too busy with other stuff to pay attention. At least list the characters, come on!

SSBM

Doubles (8 entrants?)

1. Jace and Strong Bad
2. Geno and Sam
3. Lixi and Sinister

Singles (20 entrants?)

1. Jace
2. Geno
3. Sinister

SSF4 + Marvel


Essentially canceled. More in that future post. ;)

Results from Dubuque MvC3 Weeklies #4

MvC3

1. Hogosha (Ryu/Storm/Haggar)
2. Keela (Tron/Mags/Chun)
3. Chevy (Dante/Chun/Shuma)
4. Olli
5. DTJB
5. Jackie

Apparently, due to equipment and time limitations, this week was run bracket style double elimination with matches best 3/5 games.

Here's a quick testimonial on the humorously precarious situation that went down from Alex "Keela":

"Well, we didn't do King of the Hill format. We did a double elim bracket that Mike rigged so that me, Mike and Olli were on one half and Chevy, James and Jackie were on the other half. Olli only lost to me and Mike. Basically one of us three was going to place lower than one person on the other half of the bracket, lol.

ps - Mike totally rigged it that way on purpose, I saw him re-roll the dice he used to figure bracket placement like a million times.  heeheehee"

Results - WMS V, Cedar Rapids, IA 4/17/11

I'm only reporting top 3 for each game this time. For one, I don't know everyone's tag and another, I still don't know the characters people are using in Tekken. Someone who plays this game, get at me!

Tekken 6 (9 entrants)

1. Dan
2. Esom
3. MysticBill

SSF4 (5 entrants)

1. Figgy (Honda)
2. Hogosha (Claw)
3. NGamer3k (Sakura/Ryu)

MvC3 (17 entrants)

1. Hogasha (Ryu/Storm/Haggar)
2. Keela (Tron/Mags/Chun)
3. MysticBill (She-Hulk/Dante/Taskmaster)
.
.
T5. NGamer3k ^^;

Yes, I was dethroned in SSF4 this month by Figgy and Mike. Honda jump strong is well too... strong. Was it just a matter of time? Maybe, but I'm going to make sure not to lose again in the future. On another note, the turnout for Street Fighter is so abysmal, I wouldn't be too heartbroken if it got scrapped. It's pretty much not even worth running at this point.

I'm doing better in Marvel. I was a hop and skip away from top three again, losing to Mystic Bill and the other Bill "Funk'd" both went to game 3's. I've been training a secret character all week (which is why I haven't updated until now), I'll see you at Joker's this Saturday.

UPDATE of UPDATE

In reality it seems the Omaha tournament is the same day as Joker's. This would actually be fine for me. I could easily go to both, however they won't be running SSF4. That's a deal breaker for me. Even though I am traveling four hours to play just Marvel this weekend, I won't do the same if I can easily avoid it.

By the way, the reason I didn't simply edit the last post again is because I like what I wrote and to update the post further seems silly to me. Stay free, me.

UPDATE: The Upcoming Tournament Weekends- The Rapture and Armageddon

What have I got myself into? In a clear effort to kill myself over the weekend, I will be attending two tournaments in two consecutive days in two different states. Additionally, I have to deliver the newspaper that Saturday night in between (not to mention the Friday night before we leave). How crazy am I, exactly? We'll find out afterwards if I happen to survive.

I'll be leaving with my friend and courteous driver, Bill aka "VaderSeven" around 6:00 AM on our way to the campus of the University of Missouri in Columbia for The Missouri Gaming Championships. Bill will be displaying his tremendous skill as one of midwest's finest at Starcraft II, while I try to not embarass myself in Marvel vs Capcom 3. Four hours of driving and a $15 venue for one game is difficult, but I've never been one to turn down tournament experience, especially in a game I need it in.

I was IM'd by Bill weeks prior about this tournament. I had mentioned in our past communications that I would like to accompany him to a Starcraft event sometime, and this seemed to be the perfect fit. We made an arrangement to accommodate my working hours and it all looked good. Not a week later did I find out that Iowa's Monthly, "WMS" was happening the same weekend on that Sunday. Having had the unpleasant experience of people dropping out of tournaments on me too many times already, I didn't want to back out on Bill-- especially with gas prices the way they are. And so, here we are.

We plan to leave Columbia around 9:30 PM, allowing us to arrive back in Iowa City around 1:30 AM. I'll go through my paper route doing my best zombie impression, return home, grab around four hours of winks before I have to continue on with the second leg of my tournament gauntlet. I'm not sure how exactly all this will affect my performance in both competition and in my daily duties, but it will be one hell of a weekend. Two tournaments, two days, two states, and North Liberty will still receive their weekend papers on time. Catch you on the flip side.

UPDATE: It's come to my attention that Omaha's monthly (SSF4 and MvC3) will be held the following weekend at Family Fun. This wouldn't pose much of a problem except Joker's Monthly is the day before. I'm already committed to Joker's. I promised a ride to Chloe "Yink" aka Queen of the rainbow  colored names on Smashboards. At the moment, I am appealing to the SRK boards for people to accompany me to Omaha so I can make up some of the expense I'd be taking. Pray for me.

You may be wondering why can't I just skip out on these events and save copious amounts of money and trouble. A fair challenge to my seemingly insane ambition. To that I can only say that I'm hungry, hungry for victory.

Results from MvC3 Dubuque Weeklies #3 - 4/12/11

MvC3 (8 entrants, RR/KOH)


1st - Murhagator (Spencer/Sentinel/Haggar)
2nd - Olli
3rd - MysticBill
4th - Keela
5th - Hogasha
6th - Chevy
7th - DTJB
8th - Jackie


I don't have the other teams, because I was unable to attend this week and Mike :< couldn't remember. Can the Bionic ARRRRRM be stopped?

SSF4 AE Officially Announced For Consoles - Release Date, Price, New Features

After months of rumors and potential leak sources were combating SSF4 Producer Yoshinori Ono aka "Master Troll" and his continual denials that Arcade Edition would make it to consoles, it was announced today that AE would indeed be released to consoles as both a DLC update for current owners of SSF4 priced at $14.99 and a full retail disc for those who still haven't joined the SF4 legion priced at $40 according to Amazon.

Results from Dubuque MvC3 Weekly #2, 4/5/11

MvC3 (6 entrants, RR, KOH)

1. Hogosha (Ryu/Storm/Haggar)
2. Olli (Wolverine/Zero/Taskmaster)
3. NGamer3k (Wesker/Storm/Chun)
4. MysticBill (She-Hulk/Dante/Sentinel)
5. Keela (Magneto/Tron/Chun)
6. Chevy (Chun/Wesker/Shuma)