NAI=e

It’s been over 3 years since Evo 2010.  Melty had its time to shine in one of the biggest Fighting Game events as a main game. Getting there was quite an experience.  Don’t know if I shared or documented it somewhere, but I might as well go on about it, since I feel this is one of those significant achievements in my life.

Once i heard that Melty Blood Actress was in Evo 2010, I took extra effort to get much better. Had a practice session @ Bell’s, grinded the (recently discovered at the time) Hisui Yayaya combo, learned the power of 5B Ground to Air trade, and went in with my gut instinct.

As for Pools, i was placed in Pool 2, which was dubbed the “Kiddie pool” since most of the killers were spread in the other 3 pools. Fortunate? Maybe? Regardless, it wasn’t gonna be easy to get out of pools.

Friday, the day of the tourney. My first opponent was Brandino. First time fighting F-Ciel. Needless to say, i got taken out easily & got sent to losers right away. I remember after my loss, I felt crushed, and spent the next hour lamenting my loss. It was probably good since when losers pool started, i regained my composure & the will to win suddenly grew within me. At that point, it was a matter of scrounging my way out of the losers bracket,

I remember certain opponents I faced in this pool:

Choco: Friend and rival back in the MBAC days.  I happened to win that day.

Dippy: Another friend. I remember downloading him by watching his previous opponent.

Keobas: Len player.  Almost lost against him due to Len’s j2C vortex.  Changed my strategy to keeping Len away with 214A/B stuff-fu, Bentos, and probably EX-Dust. It was easy pickings after that.

Nas: The battle for Top 8.  This, in my opinion, was the battle of wills. We both wanted the win.  This was also the first time I fought F-Ryougi, so i had no idea what to expect. Thankfully for me, I had my personal friends there to provide moral support, and to record that match, so I can watch it again and again for all eternity. (http://youtu.be/CGpZdbHjTX4) It took me 2 games (1 win, 1 loss) to finally find out how to face him.  The win with Hisui-do-ken, and Nas’s angry scream afterward has forever engrained in my mind as the mark that… I made it.

I made top 8!!!!! Fuck yes!!!!!

Friday night was a celebration with my personal friends and drinking.

Saturday was a time of dread and not being able to enjoy myself, which is a shame since I was in Vegas.  MBAA Finals was sunday @ 10am, which was the following day. I also had to check out my room the same day, so that didn’t help at all. My whole saturday was spent being a nervous wreck about Sunday.

Sunday was pretty surreal. Before the doors opened, I was outside pacing and worrying,  A chat with Keobas helped soothed my nerves a lil, but not by much. At 10am, they let the Top 8 players enter first.  I saw Spooky briefly and mentioned the time he went to SoCal for a “West Toast” event and we went to Apple Bees after the tournament. Eventually we, the top 8 players, sat down near the main stage.  I was glad to see Xie and HF there too, since we came from the same training grounds.  When the audience for MBAA entered and sat down, we saw MBAA on the big projector screen, and we all cheered.  Hell, we even got hype when the demo comp’s fought each other. Such a hilarious memory.

When they called out my name to play on stage, I remember walking up there, nervous as all hell. I couldn’t even look at the audience. All I wanted to do was get up on the stage, sit down, and play my match, and that is exactly what I did. I sat indian style on the floor with my left foot sticking out a bit, anchored the back end of the stick to my shoe,  I laid my hands on my stick at a slight downward angle, a position I chose to use throughout the whole tournament. I picked my Hisui C-moon, Color 21. My opponent, Yat from NorCal, picked H-Tohno. The actual match is recorded and posted on youtube, so i won’t go into match specifics. (http://youtu.be/9xhz1P6TfyM)

As for how I did…

Well… Not that good.

I dropped combos. Got caught by overheads. Got staggered. My 5(C)’s and Hisui’do’kens kept on being bunkered. I also did not know how to fight H’moon in general at the time, so I was not prepared the slightest.  The most I was able to muster was a 1 round win by time out. Needless to say, I lost quite convincingly.

The rest of the time up there was me lamenting my loss and loosening up. Eventually, I ended up watching and enjoying the matches on the big screen.  It was great to observe with the audience in the in the main hall things such as Xie’s “Beemu” loop, Kusanagi’s strong Aoko play, and the endless Kohaku noises on the big speakers with Garu VS Lord Knight.  It was after the tournament was over that all 8 of us stood on the big stage, looking at the crowd. Mr Wizard placed Evo 2010 top 8 metal around my neck. Garu got his trophie. Everyone cheered.

And I was up on that big stage with everyone.

To this day, I am amazed I was able to make top 8.  My guess is that my desire to win was stronger then the opponents I fought. The initial loss against Brandino probably made me that much stronger of a player, which made me pay more attention to my opponents.  I also never realized how much time I trained in MB, not just for that initial Evo training, but also the previous MB tournaments back when the “West Toast” events were big.  There is also that bit of that Hisui pride that drives me, and the fact I never really stopped playing MB.

As for now… I guess I’m a top Hisui player. Getting top 8 at several West Toasts, Evo 2010, Final Round 15, and NEC 13 in MB proves that I’m not a complete fluke.  I do not regret the time I spent on MB, since it carries over to other games I play to this day.   I do regret, for Evo 2010, falling apart on the big stage and not using Hisui at her fullest, and not hanging out with the MB crowd. It is all in the past though. I still happily play with Hisui as my main. I also keep contact with the MB folks.

Whether I keep playing MB or go on to other things, Evo 2010 reminds me that the time and dedication I had with MB definitely paid off, and I got a medal for it. The medal is a nice bonus. ;D