in SF4 we never cared if someone called us cheap or scrubs for using a thought to be easy to use character and when placed against a shoto
we fought long and hard for our wins
though as soon as SSF4 came out the zangief players vanished
it was like they went extinct
no longer willing to wear the red tights
no longer wanting to eat fireball after fireball
the nerf’s crushed everyone’s spirits
His U2 was situational and iffy at best so a buff it was not
vangief finishing in the top 8 at evo this year brought back some pride to the zangief community
but still this place is lacking and it always comes down to the same thing
why was it all nerfs
why did capcom cripple the red cyclone
will we ever see the gief win any tournaments
we may never know the answer to any of those questions
what we do know is that just like zangief in his ssf4 prologue it is wrestlers duty to never betray his fans
so remember offline online tournament or casual
it doesn’t matter where your at
represent gief and prove to the world he’s still got it
with all this said and done
after everyone’s had their fun
what will become of zangief?
Zangief still has a cult following. The kind of people that run him and only him regardless of counter-picks. The kind of players that attempt 1 frame non-Plinkable combos to keep their opponent’s on the ground. Just so we can give-em a hug. I’m pretty sure the entire Gief community was rooting on Vance during those matches, and even though he lost he showed everyone just what Gief is capable of. Mastering the bad match ups is the key to success for a Tournament level Gief player. Make your opponent scared of counter picking due to your extensive practice and knowledge of that match up.
Actually, I think that SSF4’s release lead to there ONLY being proud Gief players because they were the only ones that would continue to use him despite the nerfs. Everyone that really wasn’t a Giefer ended up dropping him. But I do get what you are saying.
Really? Consensus is that U2 is garbage other than in a very few specific matchups. Its hard to execute, hard to catch opponents with it, and the damage is not good to boot. Compared to many other U2s, its trash.
French Gief player here. I didn’t let the russian wrestler behind, He’s still my main and I still play him in a regular basis, as in tournaments. And I can certify that any good Gief player shall win as much as they did in Vanilla. Plus, Ultra II IS a good weapon for Gief, as it’s at least very good for applying an evil mindgame.
I’m going to sound trollish here, but I honestly don’t think Gief is really that tourney viable even with Vance’s “success” at least without a sub main.
I mean, look deep down … can you honestly say your NOT surprised in a national tourney a Gief finishing so high? With all the buzz in the gief forums I’m willing to bet there are some major jaws dropped. would there be any jaws to the floor for a Doofus or Chun or Ryu win? I don’t think so. I wonder how many Sagats, Guiles, Chuns, Seths, Akumas he had to get through…?
So while I’m fully enjoying everyone gun-ho with their Gief national flags in the air, I take it with a grain. When your main is a character that has to work twice as hard as most of the cast to win big, its no wonder people have dropped the giefmeister.
P.S. I fully understand that I’m a SF nobody, but much like sportscasters who never made it to the majors I feel i have a total right to comment.
Zangief have a good part of fair matchups, and even though a few of them are a pain in the ass, it’s always possible to take advantage of them. Zangief may no longer be the top tier he used to be, but he sure have what it takes to rank high in a tournament.
They nerfed the whole top tier other than ru chun and rog. I don’t know anyone that dropped gief to pick up a higher tier char and there are still like ten giefs in Chicago. Was he really that much better in vanilla I don’t even remember.
I’ve recently decided to 2nd Zangief since I’m a Dhalsim user and really hate fighting Abel or Rufus with him (and like using grapplers, though I do feel Zangief used to be stupidly powerful in Vanilla <_<). Lariat is still a great move and it’s not on the verge of stupidly good. Ultra 2 is good since you can bait SRKS with it on wake-up (though it’s risky). Like Sim, Zangief has some really good match-ups and a couple terrible ones (mainly due to wake-up options that screw up Zangiefs mix-ups like Akuma teleport and SRK, or tiger knee on any jump you make).
T. Hawk has stolen the attack power of command throws from Zangief, but Zangief has much better normals and mix-up options against wake-up that put the user whose down in a huge disadvantage (you could cross up body splash, fake cross up, safe-jump in 360 pile driver, safe jump in block and they would need to guess right) EX banishing flat still helps you get in on fire balls if you are at the right distance and can be safe if you ex focus cancel it. I’ve seen some pretty good Zangiefs at other tournaments beat pretty good Sagats so it’s not impossible. He did get a huge damage nerf, but I don’t think people give Zangief enough credit for what he’s capable of other than 360/lariat big zomg damage.
Right, I shouldn’t have said difficult to execute. I really meant that its just too risky and situational. I still think U1 is the better choice 95% of the time.
I’ll admit, I toyed around with the other characters at first. Can anyone honestly say they didn’t? It’s our duty to check out other characters and see what they have to offer. Now, I did consider making T. Hawk my secondary, but I eventually found I just can’t think properly for that character, primarily because of the awful dive. He doesn’t offer the pressure that Zangief does. Honestly, I never paid attention to any nerfs. The game is what it is, and I just roll with it. He’s still the essence of what he was, and like the Sagat players who kept with him despite being the star nerf, I’ve kept with it.
I’ve found salvation with that second ultra. I disagree with any “better” except with each individual matchup. There are few matchups where I would opt for 1 over 2, because most characters are quite vulnerable to it. The threat that any given jump might be packed with a 720 ready to explode makes them think hard about how to respond. It makes them want to stay on the ground a bit more… and that’s to my advantage. If they don’t stay on the ground, they jump backward. Again, advantage. This is not to say that people will change how they play entirely because of it, but most of the time there will at least be subtle differences.
