SB5 After thoughts

Regional Matchmaking Canada
1

Hey guys just like after Evo, I have many thoughts about this past weekend’s tournament. I figured i should make a thread so others can fill in their experiences too…

Since the launch of SF4 this is the first tournament Canadians have made it out of their pools and did decent in the tournament. To many, this was a shocking news. Some players actually thinks Canada or STC are on par with top Americans. But lets take a look at the big picture, all 3 of us who qualified came from losers. And none of us beat top players to qualify. Our best placer came in 9th place. That’s not something to be proud of in my books. Historically, top Canadians have came in top 3 and even won ECC/NECs before in other games, and now ppl are celebrating because a few of us qualified from pools? Way too early for celebrations imo. Ofcourse some may argue SSF4 is a different game, more players play… but as competitive gamers, we can not be satisfied at these results.

I’ve reflected on some of the mistakes STC made last weekend and realized early celebration is what caused our defeat on Sunday. After both Friday and Saturday’s long battle, we lost our motivations to go further when Sunday was the most important day. We celebrated and drank till 6am on Sunday morning. And surely, we got owned by both teams we played the first thing on sunday. We went from winners semi-finals to out of the tournament in less than 20 mins. All 3 of us sat outside the venue for a long ass time speechless… I felt that was one of the worst defeat in my SF career. In the end we concluded that if we want to stay consistent and strong, we have to stay mentally stronger than others.

On the brighter side, I do believe we did make some improvements in the last few months. Atleast, we made it out of pools, atleast STC came 5th in team tournaments, atleast we brought some hype to the tournament.

However, if you are like the the rest of team STC, who will not satisfy until we are at the very top, I hope the results from this tournament will act as a motivation for you to train harder than ever before.

2

Team STC and you are still my heroes.

Its just like you said… first Canadians to really accomplish much in a major tourney. Its cool you aren’t happy with it cuz you will stay hungry and keep at it. But you are the first Canadians to do well at a major - so don’t sell yourselves short. You did us all proud!

3

Agreed. It will take much more practice to hit top 3 but nothing is wrong with having mini celebrations. Yes you guys took it way too far on Saturday night but that’s all part of the learning experience. You can’t beat yourself up too badly for that. On to the next tournament now.

4

in street fighter 4 maybe…

like he said canadians have won majors before, and a few canadians were regular top 3-5s in cvs2/3s and other smaller games.

5

good to hear u say that JS, shows how motivated u are right now. good mindset

also there was a conspiracy holding Canada down at SB!!! jokes, but I know that if u guys would have finished the team tourney on Friday after beating Team Jpn, u would have momentum behind u and WON the whole thing. fuck what the haters say.

6

why r u claiming canada… aren’t u actually a honger? how’s the jailbait boji in mongkok.

7

JS is right, SB5 was one of the most exhilarating and humbling tournament experiences i’ve been to.

Toronto did well, but we can do better. The American top players are ridiculously far ahead right now, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to catch up. Toronto has a small, tight knit community which is both good and bad. Good because information gets shared faster, but bad because there’s less talent to learn from. I’m happy that I did decently, but i’m also internally furious that I didn’t make it to the qualifying match. If any good player from Toronto had been in my pool, there’s a good chance that there could have been 5 Canadians in the top 32. I had to beat Mike Infinite to face Yipes for the qualifying match, and I blew a match I knew inside out, against a player who is much worse than good Toronto balrogs, simply because I got impatient. I find it ironic that SB5 pools was the first time in a LONG time that I joined a tournament where I actually, absolutely, wanted, HAD to win. I played my heart out, but I still felt like I let the community down. There were plenty of opportunities to practice where I simply took to dicking around, because I felt that there was no point in me trying. If I had actually used that time better, I truly believe I would have been facing Yipes to attempt to qualify for top 32. It’s even more ironic that at the time where I want to actually play, learn, and try my hardest, real life has simply caught up to me, and I won’t have the time to play competitively anymore.

Everyone who went to SB5 had their eyes opened I think. I always believed everyone who had gone to previous majors who said “You just don’t understand”, but now I finally understand. The gap is there, but it’s not insurmountable. A lot of the Americans just simply take the game much more seriously than we do. It’s not even about playing a lot more, but making the most of the time you do get to play. Canadians don’t really have that much to aim for; most of us consider our tournaments as a fight for 2nd or 3rd place, and most are satisfied with the rankings that they get. Players like Buddah who are genuinely hungry to become better players work harder, and their results show. They actually believe that they can win against players supposedly much better than themselves, and maybe it’s just that confidence that gives them the ability to become better players.

This isn’t a judgment call; most players in Toronto simply haven’t been playing long enough. Street Fighter is a game of time, and it takes the rare exception to break that constraint. However, I definitely recognize and appreciate the attitude that some of the newer players have, and it’s an attitude that I haven’t seen in a while. People want to win, people think they can win, and I think next year Toronto can do much better. We need more to play for, and more motivation to get better. It’s up to people at this point to start something that creates that need.

Maybe once I figure out where i’m headed in the near future, I’ll start taking a more active role in the scene once again, but for now, this is Anant signing out. Best of luck to all the new heads, and the older players at the next majors, starting with Massacre.

EDIT: Team Canada > Team Japan.

Canada > The World!!!

8

I have to say that, watching the stream, I was amazed by how well the Canadian players did. JS you did really awesome and I think you should be proud of what you accomplished. I dont think anyone in the scene should get ahead of themselves though. For Canada as a whole I think its still small talk to have one player make top 9 and there are certainly improvements to be made, but its also important to celebrate the accomlishments that have been made already.

Im really glad to see you say that more improvements have to be made. That shows motivation that in itself will get you far.

Would just like to congratulate you guys on playing really well this time around and hope that Canadian players can continue on this line of improvement. maybe one of you can make top 8 at EVO next year. Hell of a challenge but shit, you got the skills so gor for it.

9

you did very well STC watching all of your matches was awesome

Im pretty sure at evo 2k9 scrubydan from vancouver made it out of pools

10

My afterthought: 3s is dead… which is sad cuz SF4 is just not the same…

11

Scrubydan did indeed make it out of his pool.

12

Good stuff at SB JS. I think it’s really awesome that you have that mindset. All of us here in Canada that play should develop that mindset for sure. I really think that if we train hard enough we can catch up and beat USA.

13

Danny’s hunger to be better is what motivates me and it is even much more so when I see others have that same mindset. My old scene our top players were not passionate…just very good and I unfortunately had that impression of JS but with the training sessions and now this post you got yourself a new fan.

There are also others that inspired me such as Tat and I hope to find this in others. Keep it up Canada so happy to see the gap decrease!

14

good shit canada, my stream monster self was proud!

15

Yes JS your right. Gettingout of pools and 9th place is ok. But we shouldnt be celebratin or get over our heads because of something so small. Canada has done much better before in the previous games. We shouldnt be satisfied with these results we should simply be encouraged to train harder and go to more US tournaments to eventually do more then just place high but to actually win the whole thing.

16

Heh, in light of all of that, I’m definately one of the people that got way too hype about results that should be tighter. You’re right. While it’s definately something I’ll remember in the future, let’s take away from it what we can - motivation to the entire east coast Canadian scene to come back stronger, and continue travelling, climbing the ranks.