In the past two seasons, I’ve tried to spotlight the Final Four fighters of a Super Brawl tournament as a way for everyone, not just members in the league, to acknowledge their accomplishments thus far. Reaching the Final Four of a Super Brawl tournament is special for a couple of reasons. First, obviously, is the fact that these fighters have defeated multiple opponents to get here. These are the top 4 fighters in the league this season. The best of the best, per se. Three of the four fighters came into the tournament as #1 seeds, with the other fighter being the #2 seed. The combined record of all four fighters is 63 wins and only 2 losses.
Secondly, each of the members has reached the Final Four with a different character in the game. This is part of the reason why I enjoy playing Street Fighter all these years. Any player can learn a specific character and dominate with that character. It’s just a magical fit when you find a character that you just seem to be able to use easily and effectively. The final four fighters (Rufus, Ken, Blanka, & Makoto) each have a very unique set of attacks, and thus, require a different level of mastery. We can all learn a lot simply by watching their matches on how to use these 4 characters, but also how to fight against them. Three of the four fighters were member’s ‘main’ fighters with the other fighter being a member’s secondary character.
Finally, another reason we should spotlight these Final Four members is true for any tournament. Skill and experience are important, but just as important is their commitment to playing. A person may claim to be the best at something, but unless they go out & prove it to all other competitors, they will never know for sure. To play in a tournament (or a league) takes a personal commitment that some people simply don’t have. Look at the final results for the European Region. Such great promise, and what was supposed to be a Final Three this tournament, ends up being an Americas Region final since no one on the European side cared to finish out the season. There are some skilled players over there, but in the end, they forfeited their season. For this reason, I am deeply grateful for these Final Four members. As I’ve said countless time before, it’s the members of this league that make this league special. These Final Four members have come to define that all year long, and deserve to be recognized.
So without further ado, the Final Four fighters are...
I’ve asked each of the Final Four members to complete a short interview of 10 questions. It’s another way we can get to know the members a little better, and as always, a way to improve our own skills.
Eastern Conference B Division Champion
#2 GuurenLagen MAKOTO (12-1)
A: 26
Q: What is your hometown?
A: Quebec city, Canada
Q: How many years have you been playing Street Fighter?
A: i'd say 4 or 5years, i'm not sure
Q: Which Street Fighter game did you first start playing?
A: I played Sf2 turbo on Snes a lot when i was a kid. But i started play it seriously at sf4
Q: What type of controller do you use to play Super SF IV: Arcade Edition on the PS3?
A: I have an arcade stick sf4 edition. But i never actually picked it and mastered it :(. I still use my ps3 controller and i lack execution.
Q: Who is your main character in Super SFIV: Arcade Edition? Why?
A: I mained Blanka in sf4 but since ssf4 i main makoto and hakan. I like makoto's mix up a lot. she has a lot of potential even without much defense
Q: Which character gives you the most trouble? Why?
A:It depends! I'd say that every character when well played can give me a lot of trouble. For exemple : Bison can be annoying, viper can be annoying, fuerte can be very annoying, the twins too.... But if i had to chose one, it would be ...Blanka! he has good wake up reversal, a fast dash and you wifff often when you try to throw / grab or with makoto, when i land a focus attack, the combo i usually do vs most character does whiff very often on blanka.
Q: How did you hear about the SFCCL?
A: I used to fight / practice with Kmoney at sf4 and he was part of the league and told me to visit the webpage.
Q: Best experience in the SFCCL so far?
A: Right now i would say. The character i used for the past season were blanka and hakan and when i decided to change them for Makoto, i wanted to show it was possible go far with this low tier character.
Q: Final comments/predictions going into the Final Four of Super Brawl III.
A: For a final comment, i would like to say that im not very happy that 2012 version was applied when we were deep into brawl iii. Makoto has less hp and does less dmg and stun then in AE. However, some of her pokes got improved.
And I predict a win by.... Makoto! :) My next match vs Xenon5100 will be hard, but i practiced a lot with majg-16 ( #1blanka ) this week and i am confident. As for other bracket, It will be a very good fight but i can't predict a winner and i never fought Von before.
Western Conference A Division Champion
#1 Haduken3 RUFUS (15-1)
A: 26
Q: What is your hometown?
A: Waitsburg, WA
Q: How many years have you been playing Street Fighter?
A: lol since Street Fighter 4 came out so not too long
Q: Which Street Fighter game did you first start playing?
A: Played Street Fighter 2 on Sega Genesis for about 5 minutes when I was young. Was never much into fighting games, played games like NFL Blitz in the arcade never really touched street fighter until Street Fighter 4 came out.
Q: What type of controller do you use to play Super SF IV: Arcade Edition on the PS3?
A: I use a dual modified Mad Catz Tournament Edition Fight stick. Funny thing is it started out as a stand along XBOX 360 Stick then I dual modified it to work with playstation and WII as well. But now the xbox chip has gone bad so it only works on PS3 and Wii
Here is a picture if you care to see:
http://wwrd.weebly.com/uploads/4/2/1/8/4218230/6920780.jpg?340
Q: Who is your main character in Super SFIV: Arcade Edition? Why?
A: --- My main Character is Rufus, Rufus fits my play style well and I have put in a lot of time with him. The main reason I play Rufus is because his crouch tech traps are my best offense. I love to get in close to people and force them to try and crouch tech then I hit them with an instant falcon kick and catch them poking which works out to be a free combo. Either that or toss out random EX messiah and catch them poking. Then once they are scared to crouch tech I start going for tick throws. He is a fun character to play takes lots of work especially against good zoning characters but once you get inside on people you can give them hell with the amount of options he has. I like to play a character that has a good normal move for anti-air. I really like using his standing HP and Crouching MP to counter jumpin’s.
Q: Which character gives you the most trouble? Why?
A: ---For Rufus a really patient and good zoning sagat can give me trouble. His lp shoryuken on wake up eats lots of cross up dive kicks and once he gets a life lead its tough to get back inside. Also Fei-Long is a matchup I do not like haven’t tested it out much in the update but in AE his Dragon Punch and normal’s gave me fits. I still have lots of trouble with turtle blankas and turtle hondas.
Q: How did you hear about the SFCCL?
A: Lol it was random luck was trying to get more into street fighter and was looking for people to play on shoryuken forums and some how ran into the SFCCL message thread and was just barely able to join the league right before Super Brawl 1 started. I believe I was the 152nd seed or something like that.
Q: Best experience in the SFCCL so far?
A: Hands down my favorite way to play any game is tournament style. Gets you really fired up that any match you lose could be the end of your tournament always fun to see how far you can make it. The season 1 tournament was a blast we had over 100 characters and that was one of my first tastes of tournament style Street Fighter. My match with El General to make the final four was epic back and forth. I thought I had it wrapped up leading two rounds to 1 in the final match. Went for a safe jump in on wake up to finish him off and got caught with a wake up ultra then ended up losing the next round and got knocked out of the tournament. Although I was disappointed I was excited for how far I got in the tournament and how well I competed against a very good fighter in El general. After that I was hooked for life.
Second best experience was survivor series in season 2 had never done anything like that. But that was one of the funnest ways I have ever played street fighter. For those of you that don’t know we split up all the fighters that showed up into a double elimination bracket. People could choose any 4 characters they wanted and could play them in any order first person to lose all there characters lost. It really made for interesting matchups and interesting character selections. I was one match away from making final 4 and had to play Jay19000. Usually most people start with there weaker characters and save there strongest for last but I believe Jay was confused and started with his Vega who at the time had 4700 PP and 17000 BP. He ran through my first three characters like butter. I then picked Rufus for my last and final character and played an awesome match to barely squeak by. I still had to beat him 3 times in a row without losing. Played him very close the next two matches. In the final he chose blanka who gives me trouble at times. He had the match locked up but went for the kill when I had a sliver of life left and I was able to catch him with an EX messiah at the last second to beat him. Was a very intense match and the tournament it self had a great turnout so we were playing from like 9pm PST till about 3 a.m. This was the first time we had all met up at a clubhouse with our Avatars. Everyone either sat in chairs or played games while Sal read the rules through his headset standing on the podium in our virtual meeting. When then met up with our opponents there and reported back. We played a poker tournament while waiting on the final four was just a good time. Those tournaments and Superbrawl are just an absolute blast and I try to make everyone that I can. That is the reason I play street fighter. I enjoy going to local tournaments and EVO as well it is always exciting to see how far you can go in tournaments. I have won a couple and there is nothing like a free fight stick or money for playing a game you love.
Q: Final comments/predictions going into the Final Four of Super Brawl III.
A: ---SFCCL has been a great organization to be a part of. But it takes a great leader to run things we have been tremendously lucky to have Sal running this ship. Most people would have given up long ago. Like when UltimaCloud tried to run his 2v2 league that lasted about 5 minutes lol. This league is well ran and the amount of work and effort he puts into this league is just crazy. I will be a part of the SFCCL as long as it exists and would recommend this league to anyone that is competitive at street fighter but would also recommend this league to anyone that just wants to play the game no matter what skill level. If you enjoy Street Fighter this is the perfect spot to show your skills or just have a good time playing against others that love the game as well. Not sure what to predict for the final 4 there are some big names out there. Scarface(Xenon) is always a beast and really knows his matchups with blanka. It is really hard to catch him by surprise any mistakes you make against him will get severely punished. ND2130 has a great Chun-Li but that is a match up I’m confident in with Rufus. He is a great player and a tough Chun-Li but I feel I know that matchup a little better than the Blanka Matchup. Knowledge of matchups is 90% of the battle in Street Fighter 4. Von also has had my number with his Ken. If I’m going to compete with him at all I will have to do some studying. Guurenlagen is also a surprise and have not seen much of him. I played against his blanka in season 2 and we had some great matches. Elfonki has a tough Gief so anyone that beats him is a person that you will need to watch out for. It has been a blast and no matter where I finish I can’t wait for the next season.
Eastern Conference A Division Champion
#1 Xenon5100 BLANKA (16-0)
A: 27
Q: What is your hometown?
A: NJ, South River
Q: How many years have you been playing Street Fighter?
A: Since the original SF2, about 16 years, played Street Fighter 4 and subsequent versions since it first launched
Q: Which Street Fighter game did you first start playing?
A: Street Fighter 2
Q: What type of controller do you use to play Super SF IV: Arcade Edition on the PS3?
A: Hori Fighting Stick Commander Pro
Q: Who is your main character in Super SFIV: Arcade Edition? Why?
A: Blanks, he's the one who has taken me the farthest in terms of skill level.
Q: Which character gives you the most trouble? Why?
A: Seth, has all the tools to shut down Blanka's tricks and shenanigans.
Q: How did you hear about the SFCCL?
A: Via the now defunct StreetFighter4forums
Q: Best experience in the SFCCL so far?
A: Winning the first SuperBrawl
Q: Final comments/predictions going into the Final Four of Super Brawl III.
A: There's some great competition, but only one may win. I'm looking forward to becoming a two time SFCCL champion.
Western Conference B Division Champion
#1 Xx_Von_xX KEN (20-0)
A: 22
Q: What is your hometown?
A: Minneapolis, MN
Q: How many years have you been playing Street Fighter?
A: 10+ year
Q: Which Street Fighter game did you first start playing?
A: street fighter 2 turbo
Q: What type of controller do you use to play Super SF IV: Arcade Edition on the PS3?
A: I use a pad for the ps3
Q: Who is your main character in Super SFIV: Arcade Edition? Why?
A: Ken is my main because he is a shoto and one of my favorite character to play.
Q: Which character gives you the most trouble? Why?
A: I would say Dudley because he always have me guessing once he gets that knockdown with his mix-up.
Q: How did you hear about the SFCCL?
A: It was by XxUltimaCloudxX in gamebattles. He posted about sfccl and I decided to give it a try.
Q: Best experience in the SFCCL so far?
A: Just being here and seeing the work and passion you put into this league.
Q: Final comments/predictions going into the Final Four of Super Brawl III.
A: Get ready! I won't go easy on you guys lol
The first Super Brawl tournament was also the biggest one of the three so far. The first tournament had 64 members (128 fighters) participating and a total of 127 matches. The winner, Skrface13, won 7 matches in the tournament to claim the first-ever title of Super Brawl Grand Champion. At the end of season two, Super Brawl II had 32 members (64 fighters) participating and a total of 63 matches. The winner, Cravin456 from England, won 6 matches in the second tournament to claim the title of Super Brawl II Grand Champion. This season, while 90 fighters participated during the season, the new format only allowed 48 fighters to enter the Super Brawl III tournament. There were a total of 45 matches scheduled to be played during the tournament. The eventual winner will have to win 5 matches (should have been 6 versus the European Region champion) to claim the title of Super Brawl III Grand Champion.
It's also worth noting that both XX_VON_XX and XENON5100 both have a chance to have the first undefeated full season if either member wins Super Brawl III. Previous Super Brawl champions, Xenon/Skrface and Cravin, each had one loss on their record when they won their Super Brawl tournament, respectively. In Super Brawl II, new member ModeType_Beast, reached the finals of the tournament undefeated, but loss to Cravin. The only other member to have an undefeated-but-shorten season was the first-ever SFCCL champion, LUX. He won the opening (no-name) tournament to start season one, but then retired several weeks early in season one.
Note: I asked the Final Four members to hold off playing these matches until I posted this Final Four blog. So look for the results to be coming in over the next couple of days. The Super Brawl III page will be updated daily, but instant results and videos will be posted on the SFCCL SALonghorn Facebook page. HADUKEN and XENON should be able to upload videos of their matches; otherwise I will get together with them to get videos posted. We should have video of the final 3 matches for the tournament.
Notice to all Final Four members: The final Super Brawl III Championship match is best 3 out of 5 five-round matches, not the usual best 2 out of 3 five-round match.
Good luck to the Final Four members!
SFCCL-SALonghorn