Well... Rather than start a new thread, might we talk about EVO 2012 in here?
I know the event divides opinion (Lawrence!!!), and to be perfectly honest, I only know so much, so I'll just wade in with what's on my mind...
First up;
I don't think Daigo's going to win this year...
He recently attended a warm up tournament a fortnight ago playing as Ryu, and was 'brushed' by Justin Wong's Rufus... Quite convincingly. In fact, A good number of US (and US based) players look good to win this year. I suspect Justin Wong will be the man to overturn convention and win the flagship event (SSF4 AE). But if you're a betting man out for a dark horse (no pun, honest), then Dieminion and his Guile look very good indeed...
Secondly. Marvel Vs Capcom 3 will be awesome to watch... Guaranteed.
Despite everything that's said about that game ("it's braindead, random, broken, etc"), the truth is, it's the most eagerly contested of all the games on the circuit... Why? Quite possibly because the game IS BROKEN, which means there are plenty of undocumented exploits for dedicated experts to discover... With this in mind, the UK's Zak Bennett, at EVO for the first time, is expected to do very well...
In fact, I fully expect him to make a top 8 finish. His defensive work, relatively speaking, is so-so, but his attack is the arguably the best in the world right now...
Not a common thing for a Brit in any field.
For the record, both he and Ryan Hart will be at EVO (I think), and will both also enter SSF4 (I'm sure). But I'm not holding out much hope for a British upset on that game.
...
Aside from that, I'm fully expecting to see our local heroes, Neutral Fanboy and Roujin kick ass and chew bubblegum... So if you're reading this, good luck, and have a good time!
One last random point... I'm going to follow the Melty Blood stuff closely this year...
It's a great game at high stakes...Â
Any other predictions/opinions?
"I didn't get it. BUUUUUUUUUUUT, you fucking do your thing." - Roujin Ninty Code: SW-7904-0771-0996
Wong's out before top 8. Not unexpected, though a few names to drop are - Fuudo, for example. Really pleased to see my Rose playing friend Kensouzzang got out of pools, though I'm not sure who knocked him out. Weirdo Neo too because he's just lovely.
Very surprised to see Human Bomb doing so well.
My love of FG has been slightly rekindled by all this.
I know... Just harnessing that great American propensity for phonetic spelling... May as well have used the connotative compound and called him 'LaTeeth', as everyone else does. :} Anyway, back to performances...Â
In Marvel, Zak was knocked out of EVO by some random yank using pretty much the same team that Zak found fame with...Â
Ouch.
Also, Dieminion, made top 8... Very interesting... And given his semi regular transatlantic translation, I'm classing him as a Brit for the last day of EVO.
@Tiger - As for Wong and Ortiz going out, I did not expect that at all. Ortiz had been playing especially well over the last few months, and Wong always had more to him as a player, I thought. Still, Daigo in the winners bracket is what the whole event is all about...
"I didn't get it. BUUUUUUUUUUUT, you fucking do your thing." - Roujin Ninty Code: SW-7904-0771-0996
They're top players, but I'd say some superior players have fallen by the wayside too. The amount of killers at these tournaments is ridiculous and even superb players can easily miss out on top 32.Â
I just noticed that 4 of the top 8 in KOF are CafeID customers. GO TEAM KOREA! Ripping the world asunder.
I never got deep into the Soul series after Calibre 1 on the Dreamcast.
Good things get said about 5 though... And the French have always loved the game.
Currently watching the Virtua Fighter finals.
Them Japanese dudes is serious. : P
"I didn't get it. BUUUUUUUUUUUT, you fucking do your thing." - Roujin Ninty Code: SW-7904-0771-0996