Long post incoming about TOL III - I just realized that while we have a thank-you section in the program, not everyone got the program and so I wanted to make sure to that everyone is recognized! So with that, HUGE thanks to:
Bob Painter (Str Kuroppi) - Bob is of course the creator of the Tournament of Legends and of Super Turbo Revival (plus he’s a great Honda player!). I ran with day to day management of the tournament, but Bob was there every step of the way with a tremendous amount of guidance and support. He said he retired after TOL II, but I can say that the amount of work that he put in on TOL III was gigantic, from all the STR website stuff, to the graphics work with the poster, to the design work on this program, to being the ultimate chairman of the TOL committee and being the final voice on the tough decisions. I am proud to have carried the TOL torch, but make no mistake - without Bob’s support and blessing, this event would not have happened.
Lap Chi Duong and Vince Hui (Canada Cup Gaming) – for allowing us to hold TOL III here at Canada Cup, including the dedicated ST space and the stage and stream (at least the top 8, as nothing else materialized). As i copy this over from the program’s text, which was written in advance, obviously there were major issues here, but I do know they are working hard to address the myriad of problems that arose this year to avoid them in the future. And it is worth noting that they have provided a ton of support for ST over the last few years so when considering that, I’m hoping that future events with them are as great as 2016 and 2017 were.
The TOL Committee – Kuroppi, eltrouble, Killer Miller, Sergiev, Hanasu, Isimorn, Zarghatt, and Yogaboy. I said it in the program’s intro, but… This is a fabulous team of contributors that each brought something to the table in organizing this event. Coordinating all the qualifiers over the course of a year is a tremendous undertaking and there are all sorts of things that come up during the season. Without this team working together, we would not have been able to have TOL III. Things like Karl running the innovative Monday Night Fightcade qualifier (and providing a huge bonus to the winner to ensure travel to TOL), Eugene and Tania stepping up and running several of the SoCal events, Brendan with strategic guidance and tons of assistance with tournament planning, Isimorn and Zarghatt for coordinating some of the European qualifiers, Yogaboy for doing a lot of legwork on the Japanese invites and most specifically being the mastermind behind getting Komoda over here… there are so many things that this team has contributed that it’s impossible to list everything. But the teamwork was always there, and I hope that everyone attending enjoys the fruits of all this labor!
Josh Cooper (JoshC) – Josh once again stepped up to organize the Salty Suite, which is a huge undertaking given all the equipment involved. This is a TOL tradition and I am thrilled that he continued it here in Toronto.
Art Sanchez – Art is a huge supporter of the retro scene, and he really stepped up as we headed toward TOL by hosting a fundraiser on his Twitch channel that raised over $1,000 USD. This was Art’s idea, and he provided the platform and the expertise to make it so successful. On top of that, his super-crispy streams have been seen all over ST land at some of the qualifiers, so not only did he help raise money, he helped bring some great tournament footage to us as well. On top of THAT in a post-event thank-you, Art helped out by allowing us to stream on his channel. Obviously what unfolded with the stream was totally unanticipated and a function of the broader issues that leaked over from Canada Cup, and Art being there for us with his nycfurby channel was absolutely HUGE!!!
Christopher White, Isimorn, and Dogbert – for providing some of the equipment that we used in the tournament LCQ pools. We had six pools totaling almost 100 people to get through in just four hours so without these setups, it wouldn’t have happened anywhere near on time! And a special thanks to Chris White for providing his Versus City cabinet at the last couple Canada Cups!
James Chen Chen and David Graham (Ultradavid) – These guys are so supportive of the ST scene on their show and on social media. And they have contributed commentary so many times for ST over so many years, it’s like they are the voice of ST! James even shouted us out at Sunday’s Capcom Cup ST exhibition, which was super cool and much appreciated. If you see these guys at any majors, thank them for ll they do for the ST scene!
Mattsun – for putting so much work into getting the Japanese invites coordinated. It may not be readily obvious, but it is actually very difficult for the Japanese players to take time off of work and come over for these tournaments. Mattsun was incredibly helpful in communicating with other players and organizing a short list of who could actually make it for TOL III.
Kusumondo and Shogatsu – along with Mattsun, these two amazing people are part of the original wave of Japanese players to come to Canada Cup in 2016 and then again in 2017, and now 2018. So for three years in a row, they have taken their time to come over and join us here at Canada Cup, and I am honored that they have put their trust in us to run a great event. I think if these guys hadn’t come over in 2016, it’s unlikely this scene and this event would have grown the way it has, culminating in TOL III and for that I am very, very thankful.
All the Directors, TOs, and others that were involved helping with ToL III qualifiers all over the world:
Eric Small at Big E Gaming and Kyle MacFarland for Winter Brawl and Summer Jam; Larry Dixon and Kyle (again) for Final Round; Ernest Delgado (Yogaboy) for Fightcade Offline Festival; John Choi and Sebastian Covarrubias (Ultracombo) for NorCal Regionals; Javier Moreno for Texas Showdown; Russell Ordona at Toronto Top Tiers for Toryuken; Rick Thiher for Combobreaker; Mike Watson and Tania Miller (Killer Miller) for Super Arcade; Chris Anderson for Northwest Majors; Alex Jebailey for CEO; Justin Xavier and Martin Herring for VSfighting; Min An for 2 Old 2 Furious; Joey Cueller and Chris Li, along with Tania Miller and Eugene Lin (eltrouble) for EVO; Karl Wickman (Sergiev) for Monday Night Fightcade; Murat Erel (Zarghatt) and Francois Crinon (Isimorn) for The Mixup; Jimmy Nguyen and Alex Valle at Level Up Live, along with Tania Miller and Eugene Lin (again!) for SoCal Regionals; Eric Small & Larry Dixon (both again!) for The Fall Classic; Joe Ciaramelli (LI Joe), Min An (again!), and Walter Padilla for East Coast Throwdown; Mel Mertens at First Attack along with Francois Crinon for their qualifier event “Enter the TOL” where their qualifier Max31 was unable to attend; and Don at Don’s Arcade in Torrance, CA, for his event, where the qualifier Digital Infamy was unable to attend.
Other special thanks:
Komoda
Murasaki
Daigo Umehara
Jim Sejas (Rekkaken)
Makiri
And all the other players who have come from near and far to join this wonderful event!
Here’s a link to the Top 8 and the top 2 of the 3v3 teams. I’m hoping to have the missing matches from pools and the TOL up on my channel in the next few weeks.