But, all things aside I finished in the top 20 (tied 17th) which is not bad at all. My other two highest finishes were when I placed 4th at NJIT, and 3rd at an admittedly low-turnout King of the Couch in Morristown. I can confidently say that my play has improved from last year. I don’t wake up unsafely as much I used to. I still have my issues with defense (I get grabbed easily and my blocking isn’t fully solid yet) however I have gotten better at avoiding some situations. On the other side of the coin, my offense has experienced the same growth. I am trying to make the transition from being a brawler to a more refined fighter. Yes, it’s a slow one with no real metric in which to measure your success, but I’ve noticed I have been winning a bit more in ranked matches online.

I finally made a return to Next Level for the big Two tournament series. I get there, I’m excited to play, but then, just my luck, I get to play a Spam ‘Rog and his cheap El Fuerte on stream . Overall, I didn’t do too bad, but I see that the potential here. I looked way better here than I did at Apex, but I’m still too inconsistent. I missed a few key punishes but I reacted well in some situations. If you’re wondering how I did in the overall tournament, I was blown up I haven’t gone 0-2 in a while so it was refreshing to be put down for once. That means I still have work to do, but just where do I get started?

Fortunately for me, Shoryuken has many posts on how to level up your game. I have been following them when I am in the lab, however I’ve just been playing online more to see what people are doing and get a feel of what I should be doing with my character. I just don’t feel that I have enough experience versus some characters or situations. Top players have been in some fight situations over and over again, and they just know what to do without wasting time to think about it. Me? I have to think. I’m also not able to accurately manage my meters without looking constantly. I still find myself peeking when I’m mid fight. I feel that if I can get better, more intuitive with my H.U.D. management then I can do things like make better reads on my opponent by looking at his life bar, super meter or even time with ease. I’ll also be able to mentally access my situations a bit better. I think the only cure for that is experience, so I have resolved to try and make it out to more local tournaments.

I think with more practice, I’ll build up the muscle memory required to not drop combos too often. I’ve made some progress, I just need to work out the kinks. I do not easily spook under pressure, it doesn’t affect me much, so I know that isn’t the problem. I however need to be able to take my comfortable, casual state of high-level play to tournaments. The transition seems to be giving me a hard time and I think that leads to my erratic play sometimes. I’ll keep working at it!

In any case, like always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on getting better. Tweet to me guys!

I got 9th place out of 27 people. It’s not bad considering I just started playing this game a bit more serious. Some of the things I’ve noticed is that I tend to drop combos. Talking to Megaman Steve he told me that I should practice combos in different situations such as training dummy crouching and jumping since the hit scaling is different from the standing states. I’ve been doing vs crouching opponents in AE but not Marvel. I feel that Marvel while combos are easier there’s way more memorization and muscle memory involved because things can drastically in a combo all based on what you do to start off the combo. In the tournament I was sent to losers by an 8-bit Dojo regular, Baydo. I did ok in losers but I dropped crucial combos with every member of my team at different points. Eventually I would have had to fight Baydo again in losers if I wasn’t such a scrub.
I think he probably would have beat me again seeing the fact as if he looked like a man possessed when he took third place.

In AE there were 32 fighters and I took 4th. Not bad for my first time out of the dojo in a while. There was obviously some rust and some combos dropped abut I did my best and played solid. I didn’t do too much crazy stuff but I did do unsafe things. I fought bad match ups all day such as Guile, E.Honda and Balrog. I had to be moved away from Sol Lekz in the second round though. I ended up playing a pad Blanka with a throw macro, while not illegal it’s sort of silly and generally frowned upon because it removes some of the actual skill involved, and lost (later the dojo told me what I needed to do to win against this). I fought well in losers and I avenged my PAX demon by defeating a Chun Li when I need to. I did pretty well till I ran into Chad Viper, who defeated me with his alternate character Ryu. To be fair Ryu is a 50/50 match up due to the fact that he’s so balanced you’re going to have to out play him to win. I should have won that match up because Ryu is the most common character you see online, so at this point I should know what the situation was. The match between us is going to be available sometime on the net.

Looking back at the match I could have done so many things differently. Part of that I’m sure was tournament nerves, the other part of my loss was execution. I had Sol Lekz in my corner coaching me not so much on the game but to keep my focused at the task at hand and not let me get too wild with the things I do. He even gave me a shout out on his facebook.

“As we progress, I continue to realize that Phire is no where near the “old man” status that he claims. He has the ability to absorb knowledge as well as execute. Coaching him is fun because as a player, although not as experienced in fighters but has coached a lot in FPS, knows what needs to be done but lacks the execution to do so. As to where Phire simply forgets at times but when you stay on top of him, he stays on top of the game as a whole.”

What’s next I’m going to try my hand at Savage Saturday this weekend and then Apex next month. I have to get ready for EVO 2k12 and do better than I did. I also have to run more 8-bit tournaments because I know you miss us.

Want to spar or tell me how free I am tweet it and expose me as a fraud.

For those who didn’t know who Josh was or what he did, he was a Rose player really active in the FGC community and on the boards. His Rose pissed off many people but that’s the sign of a good Rose. He was probably one of the nicest guys you could meet ever in the community. He was always willing to help and had some words of encouragement for other players as well.

Just like his character who was prone to being pressured he always seemed to find some sort of way to maintain composure and somehow swing things back in his favor. He was battling with some personal and employment issues but he managed to get through and he was on the path of turning his life around.

I am shaken because you were so young when you were taken from us. I remember trying to learn how to skateboard with you and Rob.

From all this I hope people take away that you have to cherish the people around you.

Thank you SK not only for being a good player but a good person.

Anyhow you can pick it up here. I like the red personally. I’ll pick one of these up and wear it in a upcoming episode,it’s getting cold in the studio,err I mean 8-bit.Let’s go Justin(sorry but I love that clip so much.)

Don’t forget to follow him on twitterand while you’re at it follow me too!

I’ve been on a bit on a losing streak lately. I may just be fatigued or something. I also got bodied in this online tournament ran by The Fighting Game League. I think I may just be burned out on games. Maybe I need to get back to my EVO training regimen.

Thanks to everyone for coming out.

Here are the details

BATTLE OF 8-BIT & UP 20

SUPER STREET FIGHTER IV AE SINGLES by Chocolate Lemon
When: THURS OCT 20, 6-6:30(PLEASE BE ON TIME)

CASUALS START 5-5:30

Where: 8 Bit And Up Video Games
2nd Floor (Corner of 2nd Ave. and 8th St.)
35 St. Marks Place, New York, NY 10003
212-674-0201

You can take the 6 train to Astor or N/R trains to 8th St. and walk east down 8th/St. Marks to 2nd Ave

BYOC ( Bring Your Own Controller)
WIRELESS CONTROLLERS ARE BANNED!
Tournaments will be held on Xbox360
House Fee:$5
Enrty Fee: $10
Pot Split 70/20/10

SSFIV:AE
Double Elimination
Clock on 99 seconds
Winner keeps Char, Can switch Ultra before 2nd player chooses Ultra
Sets are 2 out of 3 Matches
Loser’s and Winner’s finals will be 3 out of 5 matches
Grand Finals are 3/5 matches, Winner from Losers must win 2 sets while Winner from Winners only needs to win 1

“Nerd” Josh Jodin is a part of the renowned streaming squad, Team Sp00ky. Josh is a fighting game buff and has been on the scene for ages. He’s a great fighting game mind. This Evo, he was the captain of the East vs West MVC3 team battle.

phire: What do you think that players need to do get to this level and be successful?

Nerd Josh: One of the best things you can do, is carry a little note pad with yourself and write down why you got hit and what happened. Watch how you lose and learn from it. With streams you’re able to absorb more way more information then any of us were back in the day, so all the tools. You don’t have to go hard and pretend like you’re going to college for it but a little bit of studying will help you along way.

phire: In terms of fundamentals, a lot of players will watch combo videos and do combos rather than understanding why or how it works. What do you think?

NJ: To truly understand spacing. If you know how to be a moving wall and you understand when you should throw normals and how you are actually controlling your opponent. That’s the best way to do it. For me I had to learn Super Turbo and from learning Super Turbo I’ve learned to be as lame as possible. (laughs)

phire: So to wrap up, we’re here in Vegas obviously…

NJ: Sin City baby.

phire: There’s a bunch of ambiguous cross ups out there…

NJ: Oh yeah?

phire: There’s one that’s competing this year. Do you know about this? Have you seen her?

NJ: Kayo? Yeah, yeah.

phire: If you didn’t know it was a ts, would you still go in?

NJ: I’d still go in.

phire: You would jump in raw jump in? No option selects?

NJ: You just told me and I’d still go in. I’m not scared.

phire: Good luck in Marvel.

Seth Killian is Seth Killian. If you don’t know who he is just Google him. He is Capcom’s Community Director –  officially and the coolest kid on campus.

phire: What do you think younger player and newer players should do to play at Evo levels and be effective?

Seth K: Well there’s a lot of tools out there on the internet right now. So look around you can find a lot of great strategy videos. There’s some great sites obviously, shoryken taught me a lot over the years. But there’s all sorts of great sites even locally a lot of great videos on the internet. When you watch the matches, try and watch them smart. So don’t look for combos because that’s one of the first things you pick up, try and look into the mind of the players and see what kind of decisions they are making. And you can really try and see why this is a bad decision why this is a good decision. Don’t just watch like a speculator put yourself into their shoes, “What would I do in this situation?”, “Why did this guy do that?” Think through it that way and I think you’re going to really understand at a better level. It’s easy to look at someone who gets blown up or makes a mistake and gets hit and you’re like “Haha they got hit” think about why. What did the opponent do to put them in that situation, to scare them,to mess them up and that’s what’s going to give you the insight?

phire: Fundamentals. What do you think some of the new players should work on?

SK: Head to training mode, I mean it never hurts to practice. But again fundamentals just spacing, timing all that stuff comes with experience and practice. But again you can pick that stuff pretty quickly. It just takes practice.

phire: So are you playing in pools this year?

SK: I am banned by Capcom from in any pools. So yeah. Also I don’t have time and I’m not good enough to play in pools anymore.

phire: Aww man.

SK: I know I can take out some of these guys. But if i got to top 8 I dunno…

phire: Uh oh, come on drop some names, we need names!

SK: Well you for instance. (laughs)

phire: Well at NYU I was pretty free. (laughing)

SK: Kidding kidding.

phire: Thanks for your time.

Justin Wong is probably one of the most well known names as a fighting game player. You can’t mention the greats without mentioning his name. Old school players and new school both hold him in a fairly high regard,that says a lot. Daigo and Justin are forever linked in fighting game history as rivals.

phire: How are you doing today J?

Justin W: Doing pretty good. A little nervous?

phire: Nervous from you? What Evo is this for you

JW: It’s my 10th one.

phire: Is this bigger or smaller than the other Evo’s?

JW: It’s always bigger every year. Plus the games are harder this year because everyone is playing. The game is soo random/inconsistent so it’s going to be hard to stay consistent

phire: What is your advice to new players?

JW: Just travel more, practice a lot, don’t have online habits. Online is always a good thing to play but don’t have too many online habits because it doesn’t really work. So I would suggest saving up a lot of money and keep going to really big tournaments. Network with a lot of people, see all these players (points to the crowds), talk to them. They are really nice people they’ll give you advice. And you keep playing, playing for the love of the game.

phire: Kayo Police? I mean if you didn’t know?

JW: (Straight faced) No, I’d know.

phire: I went 3-2 this year in my first year and time at a major. What can I take away from this experience?

JW: Umm network with a lot of people, make new friends, walk around the hotel rooms listening for buttons so you can play casuals. It’s always good to learn and get better. And every time you come to Evo you learn a lot and you come home that much better.

phire: Thanks man I appreciate it. Good luck this year man.

JW: You’re welcome and thanks.

phire: ….I love you Lemon

JW: I love you too.

The first half of team American Vipers is Wolfkrone. He was on the circuit tearing it up for most of 2010 leading up until this years EVO. All of his wins at major tournaments earned him the number one overall seed.

phire: A lot of players see you on the stream. What do you feel these new players need to do get this level to play at EVO?

Wolfkrone: It’s going to take a lot of dedication, especially if you’re scene is not to great, I’m from Michigan and the scene is not too great there. You really have to put in a lot of hard work, a lot of training mode, practicing your combos, everything.

phire: What you think some of the fundamentals you think are that some of these new players should practice?

Wolfkrone: Picking a character finding the maximum range for the pokes and punishing it. When you’re fighting that character stay at that range, and punish that move. Also once you get down you’ll be able to find ways to jump in on that character. I would say keeping your distance and maintaining your space.

phire: Kayo Police: yay or nay?

Wolfkrone: Nay

phire: What’s wrong the Viper Cosplay too good?

Wolfkrone: Man I didn’t know..

phire: Don’t worry I got crossed too.

Abdullatif Alhmili or Latif as he’s known on the scene is a Guilty Gear player (which gets my love and respect) and another part of the American Viper crew. He is also sponsored by Broken Tier. This year he eliminated Daigo and Poongko. Latif is from Saudi Arabia and is currently studying in Arizona, proving that video games have a global presence.

phire: What would be your advice to new players?

Latif: My advice would be to never give up. To get to a really high level play takes a really long time to get. So once they see that they should never give up, they  need some practice, get advice from really good players. Get passionate about the game, if you like it stick with it, no matter how bad they are they will improve eventually. If not there’s always something else.

phire: There’s a high learning curve between casual and competitive play in this game. What is a key fundamental that people should work on?

Latif: There’s a lot of fundamentals people should work on, for me I would say my best thing is execution. That’s why I picked C.Viper - she’s one of the highest execution characters in the game. If I’d picked Ryu for example I don’t think I’d be very good with footsies as I would be with Viper. That’s why you have to pick what characters fit you best depending on the style of previous games you played. And then you pick it up from there.

phire: We’re in Vegas and there’s a lot of ambiguous cross ups. Brazil and Thailand are the capitals of world for it but Vegas is the close second?

Latif: (laughter)

phire: I think you know what we’re talking about, if you didn’t know would you have gone for it?

Latif: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghhhh nah maybe,no, I don’t know.

(off to the side from MIN): You would have gone for it!

Latif: I don’t know…

phire: 6-4?

Latif: Yeah 6-4.

Rounding out this heat is Skisonic, who is a contributing write for SRK, host of the podcast Alphaism Radio. He is always on the microphone during the streams and he’s an overall cool guy. He also has his chops as a tournament player as well

phire: What do you think new players need to do to get to this level?

Skisonic: To get to this level of competition is really no different from any other competition. You really need to practice. What’s great about the scene now is that there is a lot of resources. The forums are good, they have always been there and it’s great to interface with people there but there’s tons of videos coming out. There’s guys doing great commentary, guys doing analytical videos breaking stuff down. Look at that stuff , study it. Figure out why frame data works the way it is. Think about why you loss. Figure out why things actually work. I feel that for me looking at the game from a logical perspective, it really makes sense, then you can replicate these situations, adjust your game, you can make these improvements. You really need to play, practice and get some experience in those situations so you need to work on.But a little bit of studying goes a really really long way.

phire: To touch on what you said about the logic aspect,in these situations are you playing more so the match up (character vs character) or are you playing the player?

Skisonic: I personally play the guy. Personally I was looking at this is today when I was playing today. I will find a flaw in that guys game and exploit that. And if you don’t have one, it’s harder for me to win. That why I struggle against really really top players but against players that don’t know it’s whatever, it’s free. For instance I was played this Blanka today and he had this really really unorthodox playing style where he was doing stuff that I really couldn’t react to necessarily but he picked Ultra 1. And I said oh this is free because I can safe Tortilla ultra 1 every time. And I know because you picked Ultra 1, that you are going to want to reversal Ultra because that’s why you picked it.That’s what I put together. That’s all on the guy. It’s an aspect of his character but I was really making a read on that guy. But on the other side of the coin I played T-roy, he’s a great 3rd strike player, has very little experience in Street Fighter IV. He gave me a harder time than everyone in my bracket.

phire: Because he understands the game?

Skisonic: He understands Street Fighter,he doesn’t understands street fighter IV. So I was saying him I’m going to tailor my game to what you’re doing. Right? But Your game play is all obtuse how I going to tailor my game play around that. I don’t have enough material, I don’t have enough fabric. You know what I mean? You’re making stretch myself thin trying to do that. It makes me takes risks it makes me get scared. I personally play the player. And I think you’ll find a lot once you get up the level.

phire: So what about those players who see EVO and say I want to do this,I want to build something like this for my city. Lets say you’re from a place that doesn’t really have a scene how do you go about building that scene?

Skisonic: Why do you want to this for your city and do this for the people that are playing? Start with them. You don’t have to make it huge. Something that I heard along time ago, it takes 3 people to make a scene. I really believe in that. When you have a 3 man scene this is what happens, usually have 1 person that’s godlike, the dominator. One guy gives that guy the challenge. And the third guy is usually the whipping boy, the scrub. These roles end up changing. The scrub is watching the first two play and figuring out what is going on, and then eventually he’ll move through the ranks. Then the guy not playing is going to be the scrub at some point and the roles keep changing. 3 man scenes are a good start,no need to get too ambitious but once you find some people that want to play.You have to find a common area and just try to make it happen. We actually did a podcast on this specific subject. It’s located here. Look for the episode with Renegade is where we discuss this exact subject,scene building. Here’s another guy that has a lot of experience on this. There’s a lot to do almost to much to say here but you have to find people who like to actually like to play. Find the people who are most passionate. If people see other people coming out they will come out for it.

phire: Final question: Kayo Police Yay or Nay?

Skisonic:………..Funny story!

phire: Uh oh ambiguous cross up?

Skisonic: Yeah you can call it that. We knew about her before and then the news dropped probably about a year ago. Everybody was like ‘wow’ I didn’t know. I would have not known if not for that. But knowing now, it made a lot of sense.

phire: Like beating Daigo and that other stuff?

Skisonic: No, actual build and everything.

phire: She could be a volleyball player?

Skisonic: But I totally would have fallen for it. I don’t mean I would have ended up in bed with her but I would have been like yeah you’re a girl.

phire: True, thanks for you time. I got blown up in pools. I slipped and hit my head on the way out.

Skisonic: Awww

phire: Ah well next year. I wanted to win pools this year but I think that was a bit ambitious for my first time.

Skisonic: Dude yeah it’s really tough.

phire: I made it to winners semis and I lost in losers quarters. I think 4th place overall if this was a real tournament.

Skisonic: Yeah you won some matches.

phire: I didn’t go 0-2 which was one of my biggest fear. Oh and one last random question. What is the thing new players should work in terms of fundamentals?

Skisonic: Blocking!!! People don’t know how to block. It’s not just blocking it’s really about patience. You look at people analyze a match up, they’ll break it down and then they’ll say “Well, my character doesn’t have an answer for this.” That’s never really true, that’s rarely actually true. You get knocked down and you don’t have any good wake up options. It’s not that you don’t have an answer ,it’s that just your answers are tough. You have to block a couple of rotations. That guy is going to get some pressure. He’s rewarded that because he got the knock down. You have to be patient in those situations. You have to learn how reset yourself back to neutral. Do not get get flustered trying to get the momentum back, trying to get your positioning back and all that kind of stuff. So just Blocking and patience.

phire: What you just said resonated with me because as a Cammy player sometimes I have a trouble with the Bison match up during scissor kick pressure because I want to press a button.

Skisonic: Chip damage is just chip damage man. Sometimes you have to take chip damage that’s why it’s there.

phire:……But I wanna go for P (perfect)

Skisonic: NO! NO! See that’s thing. Do not overextend yourself on that perfect just take that W (win)

Mike Begum A.K.A. Broly or legs is a Chun player in an interesting situation. Here’s his interview with Gootecks for some background before we get started. I caught Broly between matches in his pool.

Phire: I’ve seen you in videos and let me say that you are an inspiration to a lot of people, myself included. It’s great to see you at EVO and in pools, you’re still using Chun (Li) right?

Broly Legs: Yes she’s been my character all this time. I have not given up on her since Vanilla(regular Street Fighter 4). I keep playing with her online and hoping that I get better and better and it’s paid off these last few months.

Phire: What would you feel that new players that are just starting and want to get to this level should do?

Broly Legs: They have to get in touch with the character and they gotta know the moves. They have to get in touch with the other players. Really good players come from really good communities, I came from a great community at the Valley in South Texas. We all play together and we all play constantly. If you don’t get pushed to your limit, you’re never going to get good, you have to be able play good players and play them consistently. If you’re going to play computer or easy players over and over again you’re not going to get good. Where is the difficulty, without out difficulty you are never going to get ahead in this game.

Phire: How are you doing in pools?

Broly Legs: I lost to a T.Hawk, so I’m 2-1 right now. I’m waiting for this next match to see who I get to play. But is still gotta go to the lab before I face a really good Blanka to get out of here, so I’m keeping my hopes up but I don’t know.

Phire: So Broly last question Kayo Police yay or nay?

Broly Legs: I’m a big breast guy so if she doesn’t have them I’m not going for it.

Phire: Thanks again and I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.

Aside from talking with Broly about the game, just hearing him talk about his life is incredible. This guy is filled with such optimism and a spirit that’s indomitable. He truly is an inspiration. Watching him play on video does not do him any justice. His understanding of fighting games in general is vast. His execution is better than most people who play the standard way on stick or on pad. Another thing I’ve noticed is that the fighting game community just embraces him. There’s no one out there being a jerk towards him and everyone seems genuine.I’ve watched a few of his match replays and I’ve looked at the comments and no one trolls him too hard. He has has definitely earned his place in the community

Kevin ‘Dieminon‘ Landon is known as probably one of the best Guile players in the world. He has played overseas in Europe and has won the right with a few other players to travel to Japan for Super Battle Opera to represent America.

Phire: What is your advice to younger players to compete at this level?

Dieminion: Well, I think a lot of inspiration for younger players come from players who are already in the scene. The drive to compete in tournaments as a younger player just happens, you watch streams, enter tournaments, you see how it goes and it is sort of like a puzzle. You may not feel like you are a part of the scene but you find that you find that spot where you fit in.

phire: As you know this is my first EVO, I did ok, I went 3-2 and the players who beat me got out of pools. Considering how bad I was at vanilla (Street Fighter 4) and my improvement what do you think some things that new players should work on so they don’t get blown up like I did?

Dieminion: Work on the basics, fundamentals really. Solid ground game. I feel that a big thing that players over look is reacting. Reacting takes a long way. It’s a part of our lives and it’s there in the game. If you can react I feel that you can do way more with your game.

—– —– —–

Marn is a former member of Team Evil Geniuses and all around party animal. Marn travels frequently for tournaments.

phire: How are you doing Marn? You look like you were partying hard last night what did you get up to.

Marn: I’m good partied too hard, hung over. I was at Insert Coins the other night, that place is ridiculously… look just know that some Canada dude came into Insert Coins and was like ” Hold everything, I want 100 shots of Grey Goose and set it on the table and everyone go in” and I just like alright time to go in.

phire: Good stuff Marn.

Marn: Yeah I know.

Phire: A lot younger players have seen guys like you and Justin on the stream,what would be your advice to those younger players?

Marn: You can look up people but don’t look up people,I always say this. I always believe you will not get better if you just stick with being a fanboy. If you’re a real player, you would want to get better for yourself and not simply be “Oh but Daigo this, Diago that”. You don’t see any top players saying “Yo Daigo let me suck you off” or something like that you know what I mean. It’s always about you wanting to win, not you wanting other players to win. You want be at the top, you get to the top. Don’t be a bitch.

Phire: For new players playing this game what do you think they should work on?

Marn: Footsies, execution and sometime you have to good instincts. You can’t just watch videos and say I’m going to do whatever he’s doing. You have to have a purpose and play with heart. Basically don’t second guess yourself do what you’re doing because if you second guess yourself you’re going to choke like Lamerboi did vs Daigo last year.

Phire: Kayo Police is sadly a trap. Would you have gone for it prior to that knowledge?

Marn: I’ll go for if even though I know it’s a trap.

Phire: After 100 shots of Grey Goose at Insert Coins,you’d say screw it you’re in there?

Marn: No I’ll do it sober, lets go! If she came up to me and said I want f#$k the s@#t out of your ass, I’ll be like let’s go, let it rock!

Phire: Wow, we love you Marn. Good luck and thanks!

—– —– —–

Gootecks is a very important person in the fighting game community. He is a co-host of Cross Counter and he also is a crucial part of the Excellent adventure of Gootecks and Mike Ross. He’s a brilliant mind that’s always smiling,except when he’s getting blown up. Some say he’s part smiley face,some say he’s part balloon dog, he’s a great guy .

Phire:Gootecks How are you doing?

Gootecks: I am fantastic and yourself

Phire: I’m doing ok, I almost made it out of pools but then I slipped hit my head, fell back in and drowned.

Gootecks: Me too.

Phire: Aww sad face. There’s a bunch of people who watch your show and see you and Mike Ross on stream. What do you think those players that are home or the new players should do to play at EVO?

Gootecks: Well for one thing they gotta set aside the time and monety to get the 50 dollar requirement to register but If they are really trying to step it up the really need to spend time.. hmmm if they live in the middle of nowhere all they’d have is online and training mode, and you have to build up the small circle of friends you play with. If you develop a scene of 20 people,there’s usually that one guy out of those 20 who can go heads up with anybody. If you live in an area with a scene, if you’re lucky enough to have an arcade you have to play alllllll the time, got to watch your videos, you gotta know all that stuff. If you live in a place that’s mostly console, you have to put on your best politics face,which is really helpful because if you get good at the game, your politicking skills that got into all sessions will help later as your start getting approached by sponsors and teams. In terms of actual game play mechanics I find most people have poor footsies, so work on that.

Phire:If you can say one thing to any of the new players that may see this years EVO or look at it’s moments on Youtube and be inspired to pick up and play.

Gootecks: You can take it as far you want it, as far your mind can see it. So if you think that you can never be as good as somebody like Justin or Daigo then you can’t. But if you think that you can be the greatest player in the world and set the appropriate goals to do so, to be that person, then you can do it. The first thing you got do is basically get your mind right and understanding what you really want. Do you want to be the best player in the world,do you want to be an organizer, or do you just want to be the best in your area whatever it is, you have to know what its you really want. When I first started playing 4 I literally had a page full of goals front and back; people I wanted to beat specifically, placing at a majors, as well as outside of gaming as well, you know stuff like the podcast I was doing at the time. I did that, it worked, all most a little too well (Dun Dun Dun). If you set goals like ‘I want to be a good Street Fighter player’ that sort of thing is not going to cut it. If you real serious about it go to the library or go to amazon and get some Tony Robins or Raymond Aaron books and start setting some goals.

Phire: Last question, would you say your adventures are excellent?

Gootecks: I think my adventures are always excellent.

That wraps up this heat. The next set of fighters include DR Ray, Skisonic and Broly legs.