Okay since FakeSteve requested something and I suggested before that it would be nice to get to know the teams a little better I’ll post this. In particular one of the things I’m looking forward to are the more exotic, unknown teams that many people may hastily dismiss.
These teams (for now) are Team Netherlands and Team Dominican Republic. I would speculate it’s safe to say that these two teams are the underdogs. Last year when they went around asking which team is the weakest, all the teams (according to Gootecks and according to video tape) said Canada was the weakest. This year as of now I’m guessing the two teams people would say are the weakest is Netherlands and Dominican Republic.
Netherlands and D.R. have similar teams. Both are rocking Akuma, Fei Long and Ryu. I would argue that Character wise Netherlands has a more sound team as they have Bison which is another solid character and Vega which is considered A tier in Japan. Both of these characters have a history of doing well in Canada Cup’s 5v5 tournament. Dominican Republic other two are Guy (whose main is Fei) and Juri. Tier list wise and even team composition wise I’m under the impression most would say Bison/Vega > Guy/Juri.
Both are underdogs and both have similar teams but their approach to Canada Cup 2K12 is where I think the major difference is.
Emersion, the Captain of Team Netherlands I last saw at WGC. I’ve known about him before, but WGC was the first big tournament I saw him live. It was Netherlands vs. UK where Emersion lost to Afii’s DeeJay. Emersion lost a round he should have won and that’s something his team can’t afford for this Canada Cup. Speaking of Afii’s Dee Jay there were some people (WorstGiefEver) making noise that Afii should have been on Team UK. His opinion was that no one was ready for his Dee Jay.
Emersion said that Team Netherland’s chances of winning Canada Cup were slim-to-none. He said they’re going there for the experience. When asked what team he wanted to avoid, he said he didn’t want to face any European teams. I understand why he would say that but if I were Netherlands I may want to face Team UK instead of Japan or Corea. The “unknown factor” and “element of surprise” wouldn’t work against Team UK but if I were them I would rather test chances against them than one of the preconceived favorites.
On paper if I was managing team Netherlands I would want Team Canada.
Come on Canada let’s face it that qualifiers put you guys at a disadvantage. You still don’t really have an idea who your 5th is. And Lap Chi on the team is something I worry about. I mean anyone can tell you that running a tournament and playing in the same tournament you’re running is not easy! Even if Lap Chi has other people running it, he’s the boss and if something goes wrong it’s something that he’ll likely have to worry about and his mind may not fully be in the game!
If Canada gets Netherlands 1st round get prepared to hear, “8.95 Lap Chi rigged the brackets!”
So while I’m rooting for Netherlands as an underdog their captain’s answers have me lowering my pom poms down a bit. I mean Momi can get on a roll like he has before and blast through opponents and come on Emersion maybe you can channel your inner Jozhear and come close to an OCV!
Now I will translate what the D.R. Akuma said when he got on stream and started to answer some stream questions during an intermission of the tournament. I’ll post what he said in relation to Canada Cup.
Note the question is approximate since they only repeated one (the latif question). Also these questions weren’t one after the other there were a lot of questions about the tournament. In general he was just saying he respects everyone and he’ll try hard to win the tournament but it’ll be tough. He ended up winning the tournament. The Ryu of the team got 2nd.
(Question was how would he do against Infiltration)
JF: I’ll tell you the truth. I would love to play a mirror match against Tokido and Infiltration. That’s my dream. Play a First to 5 against them. I respect them a lot. I’ve learn a lot from both. The majority of the stuff I know I’ve learned from them. But I think I have a couple of things that they can also pick up from me. And I want to face them. I can’t tell you I’ll beat them because they’re the best in the world. Proven. My stuff you still don’t know yet (he means he’s still unproven).
(Question was is Team Dominican Republic going to win Canada Cup)
JF: Of course (we are)! Listen in Canada Cup, we’re going to win even (if we have to cheat) ! But we’ll do what’s possible to win. Even (if we have to cheat). (T/N: The actual word he used was “Trampa” which literally means “Trap.” This was in jest)
Question: J.F., what do you have for Latif, Wolfkrone and Poongko?
JF: Well… I think that I… have some experience with Viper. I think the experience I have may give a good fight. Though I have to admit the Vipers here aren’t even half as good as Latif. But that’s something that you’ll learn over the match. (For what it’s worth) for the moment I’ve seen some video of Infiltration vs. Latif (and picked up stuff that I think will help me). I think I have some information that they (Tokido, Infiltration) don’t do that I think will be good. For Poongko, uhh… well what can I tell you about Poongko? Poongko would be a totally new experience. Here there isn’t a Seth of his caliber nor a Seth that mimics his style. But I think that now I know the fight a little and think I know how to attack him (Seth) and what I’m going to do.
(Continuation on Latif)
JF: Yes I’ve seen video and I’ve seen a FT5 against Infiltration and picked up some good stuff Infiltration did to him.
(On Tokido and Infiltration)
JF: I am very aware of them and when they play I watch them to see what things I can pick up/copy (Though he said “copy” he meant better himself)
(About Team Dominican Republic)
JF: Well I think our team can have (make) a good statement at Canada Cup. In reality, in truth we can. Not because I - (can’t understand what he’s saying here), but because I know we can represent something good. I know the talent we have and if we unify, if we unify and wrestle for a cause and train well, we’ll leave a lot to talk about and they’ll have us present for Caribbean events of such caliber (meaning the players will be around for VxG).
Though similar in a lot of ways DR is a lot more confident. They were very respectful to all the teams, they never said they would beat another team they just feel they would do well. I could hope that Emersion was being VERY humbled and feigning confidence and their chances of winning but he really did seem that he sees this as an opportunity to play against the best and use this experience to get better for the future. The Dominican’s feel they can compete with the best now. Maybe they can. We should look at from their side… D.R. is a poor country. There is no “use this experience” for the future. All 5 players play on Playstation controllers because they can’t afford a stick. Netherland’s have good players in other genre’s like SC2’s Ret. There’s no eSports in DR. Computer/internet is not easily feasible for them. For them, this is it. It’s now or never. They either do well and put their country on the map and get some needed recognition or lose miserably and crawl back into the hole they come from.
The Dominicans are coming to Canada Cup to show they are among the best. They are coming for a fight. They are coming to win. In these comings few weeks I hope the Dutch get more ambitious than what the mainstream FGC expects out of them.
I would say D.R. has the better chance out of the two to be more successful in this tournament, but last year Team Canada proved everyone wrong.
You can too Netherlands!
