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Bolstering its lineup, Evil Geniuses signed three fighting game players: "Choco Blanka," Yusuke Momochi and Ari "Floe" Weintraub (pictured).
The moves mean the team's fighting game roster is at five; the three newcomers join Justin Wong (the longest tenured) and Ricky Ortiz. It's the team's first roster addition since Ricky joined the team, and their first player move since Martin "Marn" Phan left the team.
Here's more from Evil Geniuses:
Evil Geniuses’ fighting game division will now consist of five of the world’s most established and publicly recognized pro gamers. The division, which includes the likes of Justin “JWong” Wong and Enrique “PrettyRicky” Ortiz, will travel internationally to events throughout the coming year with an increased focus in Japan and other parts of Asia.Much like what happened with Justin last year, the signings come very close to the Evoluiton World Finals.
“With the signing of Momochi, ChocoBlanka, and FloE, Evil Geniuses is more prepared than ever to expand our fighting game reach internationally,” stated Scott Smith, CEO of Evil Geniuses. “It’s an honor to welcome the three players to the team and we’re excited to witness their evolution as both players and individuals under the EG name.”
Picture by Michael Yu. no comments
With Evolution, there's always side tournaments. This year, add Super Turbo to the mix. There's plans for a Super Turbo tournament at Evolution 2011, and some big names have already confirmed they will participate.
The tournament is scheduled to take place July 29, the first day of Evolution. If you want to get in on the action, it's $40 to enter.
Go here to sign up.
If there are 100 entrants, the top 12 will get paid. If there are less, then only eight will get paid. no comments
Ever watch someone get worked over in a match and wonder why he or she is so fast to get back into the next game? Even though it wasn't the same intensely, ultra competitive game that I cover on this site, I remember at Devastation 2009 losing a round in the Mario Kart Wii finals and pausing for a few moments wondering how unlucky I was. After some self reflection and tape adjustment (which gave me more time to reflect), I started the next race and won it, and the rest is history.
I had more than a minute to think about what happened in my loss and how I could prevent it from happening again.
But what about fighting game competitors? Is it the same way? What goes on in their minds as they compete in championship matches or late-tournament matches that determine whether they get in the money?
The person that comes to mind immediately is retired Smash player DieSuperFly. It seemed like after any loss, no matter who it was to, he would immediately go back to that same stage with the same character and play even more aggressive than in the past round. It was strange because it only worked some of the time. In being more aggressive, he'd take the early lead, but the actual outcome was still in the air.
Watching a lot of DSF matches over the years, I always wondered if he would change that mentality. He was already one of the greatest of all time, but would he be even better with some moments of self-reflection following a loss. We'll never know, now that he has retired.
I also remember East Coast (and sometimes West Coast) player Chu Dat walking around, talking to friends and staring into the ceiling after losses. A couple people told me he once went 30 minutes in between games, which is unreal.
Remember Justin Wong and Daigo Umehara during the Evolution 2009 championship match in Street Fighter IV? Both guys seemed to spend a lot of time in between their losses.
Think about how long you've spent in between games thinking about what just happened to you following a loss. Do you go back right away, or do you give yourself some moments?
I took a look at 84 random incidents in the Evolution 2011 circuit events just to see how time in between games affected the previous loser.
Full disclosure: I started the clock the moment players were able to start the next game or go to the character select screen, and the clock stopped once "Ready" showed up on the screen. Times were rounded up into whole numbers. If a player immediately went to the next game, that incident was counted as 1 second.
Overall, the 84 losers spent 9.17 seconds in between games. Out of those 84 incidents, the loser came back to win the next game only 27 times (.321).
Breaking it down by wins and losses, players that won the next game had only spent 6.78 seconds in between games of their previous loss. Players that lost the next game had spent 10.32 seconds.
Winter Brawl 5 was one of the tournaments I analyzed a little bit further. I captured 11 incidents, and the loser spent 17.45 seconds in between rounds. However, the number is high because of Ryan "Inthul" Burke. He was involved in six of these incidents and spent 25.17 seconds in between rounds, winning only one time.
At Final Round XIV, I captured 27 incidents. Losers spent 11.19 seconds in between games. Players that won the next game had spent 8.3 seconds in between games of their previous loss. Players that lost the next game had spent 12.88 seconds.
Here's a further breakdown by time:
You might want to take a moment to think about your loss. Based on this, don't take that much time.
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I had more than a minute to think about what happened in my loss and how I could prevent it from happening again.
But what about fighting game competitors? Is it the same way? What goes on in their minds as they compete in championship matches or late-tournament matches that determine whether they get in the money?
The person that comes to mind immediately is retired Smash player DieSuperFly. It seemed like after any loss, no matter who it was to, he would immediately go back to that same stage with the same character and play even more aggressive than in the past round. It was strange because it only worked some of the time. In being more aggressive, he'd take the early lead, but the actual outcome was still in the air.
Watching a lot of DSF matches over the years, I always wondered if he would change that mentality. He was already one of the greatest of all time, but would he be even better with some moments of self-reflection following a loss. We'll never know, now that he has retired.
I also remember East Coast (and sometimes West Coast) player Chu Dat walking around, talking to friends and staring into the ceiling after losses. A couple people told me he once went 30 minutes in between games, which is unreal.
Remember Justin Wong and Daigo Umehara during the Evolution 2009 championship match in Street Fighter IV? Both guys seemed to spend a lot of time in between their losses.
Think about how long you've spent in between games thinking about what just happened to you following a loss. Do you go back right away, or do you give yourself some moments?
I took a look at 84 random incidents in the Evolution 2011 circuit events just to see how time in between games affected the previous loser.
Full disclosure: I started the clock the moment players were able to start the next game or go to the character select screen, and the clock stopped once "Ready" showed up on the screen. Times were rounded up into whole numbers. If a player immediately went to the next game, that incident was counted as 1 second.
Overall, the 84 losers spent 9.17 seconds in between games. Out of those 84 incidents, the loser came back to win the next game only 27 times (.321).
Breaking it down by wins and losses, players that won the next game had only spent 6.78 seconds in between games of their previous loss. Players that lost the next game had spent 10.32 seconds.
Winter Brawl 5 was one of the tournaments I analyzed a little bit further. I captured 11 incidents, and the loser spent 17.45 seconds in between rounds. However, the number is high because of Ryan "Inthul" Burke. He was involved in six of these incidents and spent 25.17 seconds in between rounds, winning only one time.
At Final Round XIV, I captured 27 incidents. Losers spent 11.19 seconds in between games. Players that won the next game had spent 8.3 seconds in between games of their previous loss. Players that lost the next game had spent 12.88 seconds.
Here's a further breakdown by time:
| Time | Incidents | Win % |
| 1-3 seconds | 45 | .333 |
| 4-6 seconds | 11 | .636 |
| 7-10 seconds | 9 | .222 |
| +10 seconds | 19 | .158 |
You might want to take a moment to think about your loss. Based on this, don't take that much time.
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The schedule for this year's Evolution 2011 World Finals is posted, and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 will be the main event, breaking the two-year run of the Street Fighter IV series.
For the preliminaries, Super Street Fighter IV and Mortal Kombat 9 are Friday games, while Tekken 6, BlazBlue and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 are Saturday games.
The Championship Sunday order is BlazBlue, Tekken 6, Mortal Kombat 9, Super Street Fighter IV and Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
You can see the times on the Evolution site.
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Ryan "Filipino Champ" Ramirez and Peter "Combofiend" Rosas have joined CompLexity Gaming, adding to last week's announcement that the team would not be stopping with its initial two signings.
Filipino Champ (pictured, right) and Combofiend are two well-known competitors on the West Coast and have won multiple championships. In the Evolution 2011 tournament series, Combofiend is sixth in the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 standings, and Filipino Champ is 31st. For Super Street Fighter IV, Filipino Champ is 23rd, having finished in the top 16 in three tournaments.
Filipino Champ was previously with Borderland Gaming under a one-year deal but had a falling out and was soon independent. Combofiend had not been on a team since the inception of the Street Fighter IV series.
Mike Ross, the player manager for CompLexity, had this statement on the team's site:
When compLexity gave me a chance to become player manager for the FGC I knew this would mean great things. With that I am happy to bring along Filipino Champ and Combofiend to the coL.cc roster. These are two great players in both Marvel vs Capcom 3 and the Street Fighter 4 series. I feel that with these two players on board, people will begin to see the potential of what compLexity Cross Counter can bring to the scene.Last month, CompLexity signed Mike Ross and Ryan "Gootecks" Gutierrez, but only as player manager and media manager, respectively. The team said Friday it is not done with signing players.
Picture by Michael Yu.
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There's a lot of wholesome goodness on Fuddulous' YouTube portal, and it includes the Super Battle Opera qualifying tournament for Super Turbo. He posted a ton of matches from the event, including all three championship matches.
I'll post the finals of the first tournament, featuring a T-Hawk-using Damdai going up against Immortal.
Go to Fuddulous' YouTube to see all of the matches.
Video follows the jump ...
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I'll post the finals of the first tournament, featuring a T-Hawk-using Damdai going up against Immortal.
Go to Fuddulous' YouTube to see all of the matches.
Video follows the jump ...
no comments
When tournament organizers with Evolution announced it was teaming up with regional event coordinators to produce a tournament series, I was excited, as I'm sure a lot of competitors were as well.
My goal was to track the progression of the tournament series just to see who would make the biggest marks. After months of stat tracking, I have finally put it all together.
You can check out the full page on the Fighting Game Stats database. On the page, you'll find the stats of all 29 competitors that made a Top 4 at an Evolution 2011 circuit event.
The stats are broken down into two sets of tables: full totals and percentages. The full totals are what everyone accumulated in their Top 4 matches. The percentages are based off of the full totals. If you're looking for the best way to compare players, use the percentage tables.
The tables are sortable; all you have to do is click on the category you want sorted and it'll go from least to most, or vice versa.
If you need help with the abbreviations, as always you can go to the stats guide. no comments
For my next act, I'll analyze the win ratio when someone eats pizza prior to a match as opposed to not. OK I'm kidding. I woke up this morning wondering whether getting more combos actually mattered. This is coming off of Poongko's win at Shadowloo Showdown because he uses Seth. While Seth can get in with multiple combos, sometimes it takes just two big smashes to even things up.
So let's look at the numbers, shall we? Based off of those that made the Top 4 at an Evolution 2011 circuit event.
If you had a combo advantage of:
Overall, those that had a combo advantage had a win percentage of .650.
Seems as though things really don't seem to pick up unless someone has two more combos than his or her opponent. And if it gets to a three-combo advantage, then you can fairly much lock up the round to whomever has it.
Full disclosure, there were two incidents of a five-combo advantage and two incidents of a six-combo advantage. Someone actually lost a round after posting five more combos than his opponent, the winner of that distinction is Ricky Ortiz; he fell victim to 801 Strider in that situation in the finals of West Coast Warzone 3.
One more for the combo fiends. Those that shut out their opponent in combos and posted at least one themselves had a win percentage of .720. no comments
So let's look at the numbers, shall we? Based off of those that made the Top 4 at an Evolution 2011 circuit event.
If you had a combo advantage of:
| Total | Amount | Win pct. |
| 1 | 134 | .432 |
| 2 | 102 | .745 |
| 3 | 65 | .908 |
| 4 | 23 | .913 |
| +5 | 4 | .750 |
Overall, those that had a combo advantage had a win percentage of .650.
Seems as though things really don't seem to pick up unless someone has two more combos than his or her opponent. And if it gets to a three-combo advantage, then you can fairly much lock up the round to whomever has it.
Full disclosure, there were two incidents of a five-combo advantage and two incidents of a six-combo advantage. Someone actually lost a round after posting five more combos than his opponent, the winner of that distinction is Ricky Ortiz; he fell victim to 801 Strider in that situation in the finals of West Coast Warzone 3.
One more for the combo fiends. Those that shut out their opponent in combos and posted at least one themselves had a win percentage of .720. no comments
Big thanks to Jeffrey aka G for alerting me to this. On the NeoGAF forums, "dahbomb" broke down character usage in eight major Marvel vs. Capcom 3 championship matches.
And the winner is NOT Phoenix.
It's actually She-Hulk. She has been on four championship-winning teams, and one runner-up team. Wolverine has been on three championship winners and two runners-up. Here's the top five according to the breakdown (bolded number is total, second number is championships, third number is runners-up):
So is there hope that a Phoenix-based team won't win the title at Evolution 2011? Don't count on it, according to dahbomb:
And the winner is NOT Phoenix.
It's actually She-Hulk. She has been on four championship-winning teams, and one runner-up team. Wolverine has been on three championship winners and two runners-up. Here's the top five according to the breakdown (bolded number is total, second number is championships, third number is runners-up):
- SHE HULK 5 (4, 1)
- WOLVERINE 5 (3, 2)
- PHOENIX 4 (2, 2)
- AMATERASU 4 (2, 2)
- SENTINEL 4 (1, 3)
- DORMAMMU 4 (1, 3)
So is there hope that a Phoenix-based team won't win the title at Evolution 2011? Don't count on it, according to dahbomb:
She is a problem and she needs to be solved. The combination of Wolverine as point and Phoenix as anchor has created a new monstrosity for players to deal with. Early X factor usage on a Phoenix team has also created some problems that players are having difficulty dealing with. Tokido is the forerunner of this strategy and he has won every single major he has been in with it.no comments
Phoenix defines the current meta of MVC3. You either have a Phoenix team or you have a really solid anti-Phoenix team/strategy/technology up your sleeve to deal with the problem. The rise of good Phoenix gatekeepers like Wesker/Wolverine makes matters worse where they are pretty much free to do whatever they want and are generally exposed to less punishment because the other player is too busy worrying about Phoenix on deck.
It goes without saying but... expect to see Phoenix at EVO.
Now that the Evolution 2011 circuit events are done, I wanted to take a look at the progression of the tournaments in terms of what I consider the three major offensive stats; first-hit win percentage, first-combo win percentage and closeout percentage. I got this idea from a few basketball stats junkies but most notably Ed Kupfer, who works for the Houston Rockets (go follow him on Twitter).
The idea is to see how the averages in the Top 4 stacked up individually (blue line) and as the circuit events progressed (red line). What I knew already going in was that the numbers, for the most part, were going to be below what is the normal tournament average (green line). The graphs are below, and you can click on each of them to see them in full size.
Here is first-hit win percentage when it comes to the Top 4 of each tournament. Just as a primer, first-hit win percentage is as it sounds; what's the win rate when a player gets the official "first attack?" This includes trades.
As you can see, there are only two tournaments that broke the tournament average: NorCal Regionals 9 and Shadowloo Showdown 2011. It's also interesting how the numbers were low in the majority of the East Coast tournaments.
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Here is first-combo win percentage. Just like earlier, what is the win rate when a player gets the first combo? It has to register in the game as a combo.
It's amazing how polarizing this stat tended to be from tournament to tournament. At East Coast Throwdown 3 and Montreal Annual Tournament VIII, getting the first combo meant everything. But at UFGT7, NorCal Regionals 9 and Shadowloo Showdown, it really didn't matter.
•••
Here is closeout percentage. This involves a little bit more of explaining. When a player has the lead and sends his or her opponent to 25 percent health, what is the rate in which they finish off the opponent?
Based on thousands of rounds, the tournament average is .828. As for the Top 4 in the Evolution 2011 circuit events, well let's just say there were more than ample opportunities to rally.
It is notable (I know a lot of you are going to say it is not surprising) how two of the worst three closeout rates were the online tournaments. The closeout rate seemed to improve as the series went on, and I contribute that to the same players continuing to make Top 4.
Shadowloo Showdown's closeout rate was so high because there were only two comebacks in 28 rounds. Poongko, the champion, closed out all 10 rounds in which he had a late lead.
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The idea is to see how the averages in the Top 4 stacked up individually (blue line) and as the circuit events progressed (red line). What I knew already going in was that the numbers, for the most part, were going to be below what is the normal tournament average (green line). The graphs are below, and you can click on each of them to see them in full size.
Here is first-hit win percentage when it comes to the Top 4 of each tournament. Just as a primer, first-hit win percentage is as it sounds; what's the win rate when a player gets the official "first attack?" This includes trades.
As you can see, there are only two tournaments that broke the tournament average: NorCal Regionals 9 and Shadowloo Showdown 2011. It's also interesting how the numbers were low in the majority of the East Coast tournaments.
•••
Here is first-combo win percentage. Just like earlier, what is the win rate when a player gets the first combo? It has to register in the game as a combo.
It's amazing how polarizing this stat tended to be from tournament to tournament. At East Coast Throwdown 3 and Montreal Annual Tournament VIII, getting the first combo meant everything. But at UFGT7, NorCal Regionals 9 and Shadowloo Showdown, it really didn't matter.
•••
Here is closeout percentage. This involves a little bit more of explaining. When a player has the lead and sends his or her opponent to 25 percent health, what is the rate in which they finish off the opponent?
Based on thousands of rounds, the tournament average is .828. As for the Top 4 in the Evolution 2011 circuit events, well let's just say there were more than ample opportunities to rally.
It is notable (I know a lot of you are going to say it is not surprising) how two of the worst three closeout rates were the online tournaments. The closeout rate seemed to improve as the series went on, and I contribute that to the same players continuing to make Top 4.
Shadowloo Showdown's closeout rate was so high because there were only two comebacks in 28 rounds. Poongko, the champion, closed out all 10 rounds in which he had a late lead.
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