Also dont under-rated Heboryu! He is doing “ok” or “well” in his recent games in Japan. Though I remember seeing a certain tournament on TheShend’s list that he just completely dominated. He played probably his best performance and took out Vanao easily. It was “like” looking at the best Ryu for a little bit. He never played with the same intensity after though. I believe it was earlier this year too.
What do you guys think of Ruu, Magu, and Vanao’s performance with Ryu this year?
Vanao is definitely the most impressive Japanese (probably worldwide) Ryu out there. Despite inconstant performances (I have seen some tournaments where he’s godlike, two set later he is really horrible), he still own perfect execution skills and master the denjin SA like no other currently.
My main is Ryu, and I watch Vanao matches to get better, I don’t care about other Ryu players unless there is a serious pretender (Kuroda may be if he comes back to the scene).
Word. Namijin is to Ryu as Fujiwara is to Dudley. They definitely set the standard for their characters’ plays. You could arguably say the same for J Makoto.
I’d consider Ruu to be the best nowadays personally, but Magu and Heboryu are great too. Vanao’s style is so random; at his absolute best he will make it to Top 4 at SBO and also be Ouja. At his worst he’ll lose to Tokido’s Sean. He’s not an idiot though: many people say that Vanao is one of the most knowledgeable 3S players out there.
Vanao’s style is without a doubt unorthodox, but I believe he is more consistent than Magu, and imo is only second to Ruu. Sigh, but I sure do miss those old vids of Namijin.
well learning is not the word, but let’s say I watch to see different mixes he can use sometimes, and I have to say he has an entertaining game even if he loose easy matchup (too often IMO).
Namijin used to be my favorite but I nearly watched all his matches and left the scene since many years ago.
Heboryu has a very efficient game and a strong background. I believe he could be at top 4 of SBO if he play the tournament.
Heboryu is my current fave because he’s exciting to watch. I don’t think of “Best Ryu” when I watch him play, but am I wrong to say that he was under the radar in the past couple of years. He’s really rising.
Also wasn’t there a Ryu who took the tournament in a recent Shend upload? It was this past week or so.
I have to check. I was surprised to see the battle at the end which Ryu won was the last match and it had the congratulatory message over Ryu’s pic. There are a lot of Game Versus on there. I’ll check again. It was from last week or the one before it.