As mentioned earlier, I am going to be pulling a lot of the stats from the completed Evolution 2011 tournament season. Here's the start of it all.

I looked at the best percentages and the worst percentages from each of the tournaments when it comes to the Top 4. Here's what I consider the most important cumulative stats: first-hit win percentage, first-combo win percentage and closeout rate (success rate when someone has a lead and opponent is sent to 25 percent health)

THE BEST

• First-hit win percentage: NorCal Regionals: .620 (18 for 29)
• First-combo win percentage: East Coast Throwdown 3: .750 (18 for 24)
• Closeout percentage: Shadowloo Showdown 2011: .929 (26 for 28)

THE WORST

• First-hit win percentage: West Coast Warzone 3: .436 (17 for 39)
• First-combo win percentage: Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament 7: .514 (18 for 35)
• Closeout percentage: Evolution Online Tournament PS3: .759 (22 for 29) 

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The final two Evolution 2011 circuit events are done, and I've posted the match stats of the Top 4 matches. 

Here is East Coast Throwdown.

Here is Shadowloo Showdown.

Also, out of everyone that has played in a circuit event, only 29 finished in the Top 4. Here's the page with the records of those that achieved the feat.

Now that all of the circuit events are done, I'll be going stat-heavy in trying to figure out all that happened, so expect a lot of numbers in the upcoming days.  no comments

Michael aka Slash5150 went beast on a ton of match videos from the Battle for Seattle tournament this past weekend. You can check them out on his YouTube Portal.

After the jump, you'll see match videos from the Super Turbo tournament in a playlist.

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X-Mania was earlier this month but unlike past editions, this year's event was in Toulouse, France (the fourth-largest city in that country).

Here's the finals of the singles tournament, Kurahashi vs. Kusumodo. It's a Ryu vs. Honda matchup.

There's more videos of the tournament located on the jqalp YouTube portal.

Video follows the jump ...

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MadCatz announced late Friday night Japanese player Tokido has joined their team. He is currently taking part in the Shadowloo Showdown, where he will try to make his third top four finish at an Evolution 2011 circuit event.

Here's some numbers on Tokido's Super Street Fighter IV performances going into the weekend:

• 3-2 in Top 4s
• Two finals appearances, one championship (CEO 2011)
• .654 first-hit win percentage in Top 4s played, above tournament average
• 2.122 per-round combo rate
• .810 closeout percentage 

The Traveling Circus said in a statement Tokido will be working with them and MadCatz at the same time although he'll hold his title under Team MadCatz; the Traveling Circus retains merchandising rights. no comments

This is a four-part series called "The Team Concept," where we explore what has happened in the year since Justin Wong has joined Evil Geniuses. How have players in fighting games been affected by teams and organizations coming into this realm?

Dominion Method Gaming is a name in the fighting game community that has been around for a couple years. There are about a dozen players in the organization and the majority of them have made their presence known consistently in tournaments. Two players — Ryan "Inthul" Burke and Eduardo "Puerto Rico Balrog" Perez have made finals in an Evolution 2011 circuit event this year. Others have been regular visitors to the Salty Conflict Online tournament series. And that's just a small sample of their recent reach. 

Earlier this month, I did an interview with Jose Rodriguez, aka Hyena, the leader of DMG. He didn't leave any fluff, saying that the burden of a team being a success is put on both the players and the leaders. Prospective signees to team, as he mentions in this interview, sometimes don't realize what they're getting into.

Here's the interview I had with Hyena about DMG, teams and the future.

More after the jump ...

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I had the opportunity to record a few preliminary matches of the Mortal Kombat 9 tournament at NorCal Regionals, and the matches I captured were very exciting. This includes a match where Justin Wong was pushed to the limits against MK Veteran JJ. More matches are posted on the YouTube portal.

Video follows the jump ...

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Here's the finals of the Tekken 6 tournament at NorCal Regionals 9. It was Bronson "Insanelee" Tran vs. Jimmy "Mr. Naps" Tran. More videos are on our YouTube portal.

I also want to thank Subt-L and the tournament organizers for letting me record this and other matches.

Video follows the jump ...

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This is a four-part series called "The Team Concept," where we explore what has happened in the year since Justin Wong has joined Evil Geniuses. How have players in fighting games been affected by teams and organizations coming into this realm?

MILPITAS — It can't all be roses and sunny skies. As Pac-Man player Billy Mitchell put it, if he's doing well, then someone must be unfortunate. It's the law of averages. We all can't be on teams and be successful. We all can't be on teams and be happy. Even as I was on a team and then as I led one, things weren't 100 percent good times.

Martin "Marn" Phan and Joshua "Wolfkrone" Philpot are two guys that were on organizations but then left for various reasons. They're not the only two that left for the exits. There are others that were signed to teams but then left but haven't make their frustrations public for contract reasons.

In doing this series, Marn and Wolfkrone didn't talk to me on Saturday with a pool of venom ready to unload on people. Instead, they talked about being on a team and why they're living the single life at the time (Wolfkrone joined the Peaceful Jay team days later).

You can listen to the interviews on the link below.

Interviews with Marn and Wolfkrone.

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The Team Concept - The Series

PART 1: The Day That Changed Things
PART 2: Justin Wong's Year
PART 3: On a Team, Then Off a Team
PART 4: Growing a Team
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This is a four-part series called "The Team Concept," where we explore what has happened in the year since Justin Wong has joined Evil Geniuses. How have players in fighting games been affected by teams and organizations coming into this realm?

MILPITAS — Justin Wong seems to be the same type of person on Sunday as he was one year ago prior to signing with Evil Geniuses. He still wins a lot of tournaments and still is the centerpiece of a lot of fighting game talk. He makes history and is part of history. And as I mentioned in the first part of this series, his decision to join the Evil Geniuses has changed the way we look at teams and organizations.

He won the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 tournament at NorCal Regionals 9 this past weekend, breaking the sting that came just a week earlier when he lost to Tokido in the finals at CEO 2011. Following the tournament, I talked to him about his year with Evil Geniuses.

You can listen to the interview below.

Interview with Justin Wong.

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The Team Concept - The Series

PART 1: The Day That Changed Things
PART 2: Justin Wong's Year
PART 3: On a Team, Then Off a Team
PART 4: Growing a Team
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