SJBG: Casuals against Filipino Champ

Ryan: "Was that 2?"

Random Guy: "Uhhh one more."

Ryan: "Get the fuck outta here."

*Guy gets up and leaves.*

*Ryan sits down and looks at me.*

Me: "Hey, Ryan."

Ryan: "See that's how you do it! Hate it when they do that..."

:)

Anyway, onto the matches. After studying the Daigo vs Filipino Champ matches over again, I felt more confident playing Ryan. I was able to space better, control a better ground-game, threw fireballs at better times, and counter-poked at better times. I felt like I was understanding the match-up slowly. I still lost like 8-10 straight, but they were all very close rounds (consisting of 1-2 in rounds). Every time I lost a round Ryan shook his head as if he's thinking: good move but I already knew that you were going to do that. The fact that I was able to keep up with him made me want to play even better. Now before all of this, when I would play Ryan I would lose really badly. That being said, I would lose 0-10 the first time I trained against him, and then 1-9 during Hiro's (and we're playing more than 10 games so to speak). So I was completely satisfied with how I was playing, but of course I wanted to beat him and more. Couple of the sets I was able to setup the 50/50 focus, dp's on reaction, and crouching strong into light punch fire ball. I was playing the way I wanted to.

One thing that I'd like to point out is that I tried to play by rounds and not by sets. This means I tried to win rounds and not sets. It wouldn't matter if I won the set 2-1 in rounds or 2-0. Then I wouldn't have trouble with the match-up if that were happening. I was looking for 1-2 and 0-2. It's casuals and I was trying to learn as much as possible. One of the best ways to learn is to keep losing. I wanted to see what I was doing right and what I wasn't doing right (or not doing at all). If I'd lose a round doing something right I wouldn't do it again the next round since I know it's something that will benefit me to win the round. Instead I pushed myself and did other things like trying to sweep Dhalsim's standing fierce. For example, I know I have trouble with sweeping Dhalsim's standing fierce and have the option to crouching strong it, but I don't. Instead I make myself work and try to sweep it. Of course there is a leniency to this method of learning, but you can tweak it however way you want it in order to build your fundamentals and footsies (or whatever you need to work on).

The next time we played was at Hiro's. I played Ryan and he completely changed it up. He was more patient about sticking out his limbs, his fireballs, and his spacing was harder to deal with. So what am I gonna do about it? I'll let you know the next time I play him!

-Miky

P.S. Just kidding... As he plays patient I'll be able to gain more ground. If he knows that he'll try to keep me out and we're back to square one. Anyway, I'll let you guys know how it goes the next time I play Ryan. :)

SJBG 3v3 Teams Results

Sorry for the delay but I haven't had time to do a write in a bit. It's spring break now and I have a bit more time to write now.

We recently took 3rd in our team tournament in San Jose. It was a good showing and meeting everyone there was exciting. My buddy Leo was enjoying himself quite a bit. He had lots to drink!

We wanted to create a new team order: have my buddy Javier (Cynistar) last and either my buddy Chow or me up first. I decided to go up first. The reason for this order was to build Javier's confidence. He's at the stage where getting over nerves will help him play his game. Once he does he's very hard to fight. Our first match I had beaten a Guile player with strong fireballs. I controlled the pace of most of the match and even if I had a disadvantage it didn't feel so. I stayed with my game plan and pushed him to the corner while building super meter. Next, I lost to a Blanka player. I've beaten him before but I played completely absent minded. I jumped in twice and he punished me both times. From there he sat on a lead and I couldn't get a lead back. He played well from the last time we played. I enjoyed the loss. Against Blanka I forget to play a strong ground game, but now I know. The Blanka player lost to Chow (Abel) and Chow lost to Marcos (Vega) who was anchor for the opposing team. Finally, it came down to our anchor Javier. What I wanted to see from him is if he could control the situation. He ended up winning but it was a significant win. From there on I knew he'd be more confident playing in any position.

I feel like our team arrangement for the tournament was good for most of the tournament. After losing against the Blanka, I decided to play on point as if I was anchor and OCV'ed another strong team consisting of Nu (Gen), Tim (Ibuki), and Scunsion (Fei Long).

We finally had to play against Ryan, John Choi, and Ricky. We had a chance to change our order but I decided to go first to fight Ryan. Before we met in Semi-Finals, Ryan and I played for a bit. I had studied the match-up ahead of time and played at satisfactory level. I asked Ryan how I did and he said I'm doing better. However, doing things better creates new habits. I tried to dp after 3 standing shorts (which I don't know why). When it came down to me playing Ryan in the tournament I was able to read a couple of his buttons. One jump in on his standing strong and a dp on one of his slides. I beat him two rounds straight and it made me feel good about the time I've taken to study the matchup. I had a lead for both rounds and slowly let him press buttons. At the same time I tried to counter-poke with a crouching strong. The match-up I didn't understand felt more understanding. I now love the match-up! Next was John Choi and he completely outplayed me. I decided to concede fireballs, but that was a horrible idea. John out fire balled me and out spaced me. I knew I had played it wrong since he had a lot of life left. I asked John during a session about how I did in the match-up. He said just don't over think the match-up.

Javier decided to play John since he wanted to fight him. It was great to see him step up and fight one of his hard match-ups. He lost the same way Ed Ma did in Devastations (out-zoned). Finally, Chow beat John and then lost to Ricky. That was it for us, but it was a good showing. Some things to take away from the tournament was our team order. We built a lot of trust and confidence in each other playing the way we did. it doesn't matter what order we do as long as we're playing as a team. That's what I can take away from this tournament.

-Miky

P.S. I'll do a write up on the casuals against Ryan.

San Jose Bar and Grill

Sorry to make this so short but it's really late! Catch us playing in the teams for Super Street Fighter 4. We will probably be under Bed Intruders. Wish us luck! :)

http://shoryuken.com/f23/ks2-productions-ks2-bar-grill-party-saturday-april-2nd-%40-sjbg-268184/

-Miky