| 09 September 2010
A lot can happen in a decade. In the tournament scene, that can translate to hundreds of tournaments. Reepal "Rip" Parbhoo has captured a lot of the spotlight, continuing to contend for the major championships. He finished second at Evolution 2010 in July and won the qualifying tournament for Super Battle Opera a couple weeks ago.
This weekend, he's in the running for another major championship, the World Cyber Games' United States title. Reach the final match in the tournament, and he'll be awarded a spot in the WCG Grand Final later this year.
The journey to get to this weekend's tournament wasn't the normal route. He had to win an online qualifier just to earn a spot. He ended up being the last player to qualify. This weekend, Rip will take his trusty Law -- something he's been doing for more than a decade -- to Los Angeles with hopes of reaching the top.
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GLENN: I think you were one of the final qualifiers. Did you try to participate earlier in the series, and how did those matches go?RIP: Thats correct, I qualified in the very last online qualifier. The only other qualifier I participated in previously was the second to last qualifier hehe, and I got rolled 6 rounds to 0 in the first round of that tournament. That was my first match online since Tekken 6 came out on console and I got beat by an online pro. I most definitely was not prepared for it. I think the player I lost to actually won the qualifier as well, so she should be in the US Nationals event as well.
GLENN: How much did the online factor play into your matches?
RIP: Tremendously. As most people know, Tekken 6 online does not play the same as Tekken 6 offline. Offline the game is based more on reaction and spacing while online that goes out the window and its more about mind games. The USA is rather large as well, so when matches had to be played cross country we had to deal with even more lag. It made some matches way more stressful than they should have been.
GLENN: You've been in a lot of major title matches over the past year. What's the mindset that you had going into those, and what will it be for this weekend?
RIP: My mindset will be no different. I try to not overthink anything, not underestimate anyone, and just play Tekken the same way I always play. I screwed up in Evo's grand finals by not sticking to that gameplan, but its a lesson learned. With my years of experience, I've learned to adapt very well, but with this tournament in particular, I feel like I'm going to be adapting to the tournament structure more than I'll be adapting to my opponents. From what I've heard its going to be a multi-round round robin tournament structure which I am not familiar with, so thats going to be a new challenge for me. Also, since the tournament is being run on 360's I'll be using stick 100% of the way through. I've been refining my stick play, so this will be good practice for SBO.
GLENN: How much do you know about the players competing this weekend? I saw a few familiar names.
RIP: Honestly, I don't know a whole lot about them. About 50% of them are primarily online players, so they are real wildcards in this tournament. Their playstyle will probably get them some victories because its so different from what offline tournament players are used to. Some of the familiar faces I noticed were Rickstah, Kasht, and The Game. I've also heard that FightingGM is coming down this weekend to LA. I know he won a WCG tournament in NYC, so perhaps they've invited him to participate in this tournament as well.
GLENN: You can't say yourself - Who are some strong contenders this weekend?
RIP: The strong contenders in my eyes are FightingGM (I'm going to assume he's in the tournament), The Game, Kasht, and the big underdog is Rickstah. I think we'll see Rickstah causing some awesome upsets at this event. Hopefully I'm not one of them!
GLENN: What makes Law 'your' character? Also, how long have you gone with him?
RIP: Law has been my character since Tekken 1 so its been about 15 years (yikes)! It was the first character my friend taught me in the arcade for the game, and I stuck with him ever since. In Tekken 1 seeing him do flip kicks and run up someones body was enough for me.
GLENN: Do you have a secondary character lined up for the weekend, or will you go Law the whole way?
RIP: A lot of people have separate 'online' characters, however I have always been and will always be a Law player.
GLENN: I think you have explained the 'putting the pad to your face' thing you do during matches? When/how did that all start and has it become second nature now?
RIP: Hehe, I'm just blowing warm air on it to give the pad some moisture so its easier for my thumb to slide across it faster. I honestly don't remember when it started, but I would bet it was sometime that it was too cold to use the pad effectively and I needed a little something extra. When I play on pad it pretty much is second nature. I even do it on other peoples pads and enjoy watching them get grossed out by it haha.
GLENN: Anyone specifically that you want to face in the finals, and why?
RIP: Rickstah. Because I want to see SOCAL take #1 and #2.
Picture by Kelly Bracha.
