I figured I may as well make this a bi-weekly deal since that's what I've been doing since the beginning and it's a bit easier on me. Well with nothing major happening at the moment outside of a local tournament last week (which I placed 4th in...<__<) and a East Coast major happening next week; East Coast Throwdown 2. It just so happens that the top 2 in each EVO featured game will be getting a seed at EVO World. Well, as much as I would love to try and aim for a seed I'm planning on saving up for the US Tougeki Qualifiers in Austin, Texas for Blazblue: Continuum Shift. No, I do not play Blazblue: CS, but I am going there to hang out with some of the Houston and Louisiana players and supporting Fubarduck by entering his Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code tournament...since I wasn't able to make it to his major last year. I feel as though hanging out with friends at a lax-free major (for me at least) is more important than stressing myself over *another* major tournament just because of a EVO seed. As if I'm not stressed enough over EVO....anyways, before I get off top I plan on going into detail as to why I decided to pick up such a niche game as supposed to something more mainstream such as Street Fighter, Capcom vs. SNK 2, Tekken, or Marvel vs. Capcom 2.
Well if you've been keep up with my blog for the past month you'd remember my first entry where I showed you my 1st match exposure to Melty Blood and what got me hook. Well I really didn't go into great detail as to why I started playing and why I'm still playing to this day. Well I guess I could start way back to 2006 when I was first exposed and jump right into the fray. Well I started playing with Melty Blood Act Cadenza on the PS2 when it first came out in August of 2006. This was right after I finished watching the Tsukihime anime (there's no Tsukihime hur hur) and went on a MB binge with watching match videos. Needless to say I didn't start out playing Ciel. I actually started out playing Arcueid Brunestud for the first week of playing MBAC. I was just starting out *seriously* learning 2D fighters at the time and I'll be honest....I was just simply mashing buttons and hoping for the best. I had no clue on how to a SRK or even a simple QCF so I knew that I had a long road ahead of me if I ever wanted to even be competent in this game. Which is sort of funny considering that I had no intention on ever being a tournament player. I just wanted to play this game because it was so fast-paced and at the time it was something I had never experienced at the time. Mind you, I was completely new to 2D fighters and had no clue what Guilty Gear or even games like Immaterial and Missing Power or Eternal Fighter Zero was so MB looked completely new to me. I really didn't have the drive to become a player good enough to compete on at least a national level until I saw SBO footage of this game the following month. Everything looked so fast-paced and exciting. The way the players the moved, executed long and devastating combos, tricked their opponent into blocking a wrong way, but what got me the most was the SBO stage. It was a huge platform with MB cabs for the finalist with a huge crowd cheering for Tales of the Ils and Team Kubo/Satoken (The finalist for MBAC in 2006). I said to myself that I wanted to be as good as those guys and win my own major tournament for this game. I thought "I wanted to become the best I could be at this game". I didn't care for the recognition for winning tournaments (and still don't) or I didn't care about the prize money...although that's a bonus :). I just wanted to prove to myself that I could compete with the best of the best in the US and hopefully the world...but first I had to learn how to play first lol.
So after weeks and a couple of months of getting completely scraped by the guy who told me about this game and after months and months of playing online (which I will get into detail later) I was finally able to get my feet a little wet by attending a small local ( house ) tournament in Ann Harbor, MI. This tournament was primarily a Soul Calibur 2 tournament, but the T.O. TL_Crow decided to hold MBAC Ver.B2 on the PC. I decided to make the 45 minute drive with a friend of mine and I had fun. The tournament itself was very small...only about 7 people entered :V. I ended up taking it and winning back gas money and free food lol.
If you're interested in watching me from my very first MBAC tournament:
Hey what can I say? It was my first tournament and I was nowhere near as good as people claim I am now...man I sucked back then.
Anyways, I also ended up meeting people like ShardZ and Josh-TheFunkDoc who would have a huge impact on my life and neither of us would've known at the time. If it wasn't for me meeting Josh and ultimately going to NEC8 with him I never would've known about the fun and experience known as tournaments. When I went to NEC8 back then I was ultimately nervous, but I was also having a loads of fun hanging out and playing some of the best players during that time (Arlieth, Choco, LordKnight, Zar, Spooky, Sphyra, Heartnana, etc.) I didn't expect to win, nor did I care all that much. Yes I was happy about winning, but I was more happy of just getting out there and having that experience. After that experience I made a promise to myself that I would keep enjoying MB and tournaments no matter how popular or unpopular the game will get. As long as I have fun and try my hardest I can't say the experience was wasted. Even now with Actress Again and living in North Carolina...3 years later I still have fun going to the local tournaments in the area and majors such as Final Round. Because of these tournaments I was able to meet some great people that I'm so grateful to know and I'm able to continue growing as player learning and going through all these experiences as both winning and losing. Yes I do expect a lot coming from me considering my skill, knowledge, and past experience in tournaments. I know I'm capable of placing as high as top 3 in majors so I expect myself to play as well so if I so happen to not place high at a tournament then I do tend to beat myself up over it...especially if I lose to someone I know I can personally beat. I don't ever get mad at the player I'm playing against, I tend to get angry at myself for whatever mistake I made and well...ultimately losing. Regardless if it was a close match from both sides I don't exactly feel great about losing, especially if it's by someone I know I can beat.
Anyways, to close this out I really don't play Melty Blood because it's *finally* in the EVO line-up or to gain recognition or anything like that. If I wanted stuff like that I'd play a more mainstream game like Tekken 6 or Super Street Fighter 4. I play Melty Blood as my main game because I enjoy it more than any other fighter out right now and because well...I love the game. It sort of annoy me to see people say "Well, no one cares about Melty Blood or XXX game" whenever they see a major tournament result for the game. Honestly if no one cared for the game...no one would travel for it or play it as long as they have. Yeah, it doesn't get the numbers as SSF4 or T6. Yeah, it doesn't get as much attention as those games. Yeah, it isn't as mainstream as those games either. But to just discredit or downplay someone's accomplishment in a game just because it isn't popular is just plain dumb. Despite how big or small the scene is there will always be good players, bad players, and specialist in XXX game. People who have been playing XXX game for so long as their main game that it's just 2nd nature to them well...they're going to know more than the people who just started playing or someone who doesn't take it as seriously. You don't need to play a game that has over 1000 entrants to see that.