The Night Before XrdR: A Spoiler Free Review of the En (SL) v. Mocchi (SO) and Rion (KY) v. Endou (CH) FT7s

[mikadolurker]

En (SL) v. Mocchi (SO) and Rion (KY) v. Endou (CH) 5/21/2016

"In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues the attack wins." - Ulysses S. Grant

    On the eve of the JP Revalator release, the night before the next chapter, we have one hell of a send off. En (SL) versus Mocchi (SO) and Rion (KY) going at it with Endou (CH). Back to back brawls that each really showcase very different aspects of the game. People were hyped, Majin was once again our voice for the evening, and the sets were running a little bit late due to the Japanese work-life but before we started Obama gave us a little history lesson about the first set.

                                                                                         

    In 2008 at in the Tokugeki Guilty Gear Team Tournament, En, Mocchi, and another old school god named Muki partnered up to demolish the bout. Making it all the way to Grand Finals but falling in the end to a pod of never ending +R dolphins, we all watched the old recording play out as we waited. That was yesteryear though, tonight the band was broken up because these two hard hitting mother fuckers had a FT7 to slug through. Surprisingly though, what you’d expect to be a nonstop momentum based match turned into a massive game of careful and patient rock, paper, scissors in the neutral. Old friends make the hardest rivals in my opinion because of the level of familiarity between the fighters. These two certainly show that because En having years of experience against Mocchi is always attempting to guess if he’s going to jump, back dash, or go on the offensive to halt any momentum Slayer might try to take. Slayer’s 6 HS beats a lot of Sol’s jumps but Mocchi’s sweep, 5HS, and 6P all cleanly answer that normal. MajinObama really goes in on the mind games and interactions between the buttons in this match and its interesting to watch them carefully advance against one another. In the end though, with the damage potential of both of the characters being so high, one touch just makes people life bars are just decimated.

                                                                                                                                            

    Fuck respect and consideration though, Endou came to entertain. Out of all the players I’ve seen pass through Mikado, very few have more fun with the game then Endou (CH). Fragile as a fine china but mobile as hell, he uses Chipp’s tools to really keep you off balance. Six feinted teleports in your face, taunting you with his speed and overall erratic behavior, but behind all the clowning around is a very lethal amount of skill. If there’s one person who’s great at punishing someone like Endou’s behavior though it’s Rion’s Ky. One misstep or whiffed normal and he’s in there punishing you not to mention that for a character who lacks life like Chipp does, almost any good combo leads to Sin levels of damage. The way he uses the king too is down right amazing, Ky being an all-rounder, the number and variety of tools he has at his is often under utilized by a lot of players but not Rion. Every part of his kit gets uses in this match to halt Endou’s bottomless back of fucked up tricks. Adaptation, countering, readjusting the script yet again, the cycle spins around and around so fast in this FT7 that is really remarkable. 

    A new game, new characters, new broken bullshit, a distant vague promise of a balance patch, Revelator is finally here. Now all we need to do is brace ourselves for a broken ass Dizzy because I’m calling it no, she will be the most hated character in the game. Even more so than Elph.

Links to The FT7s:

En (SL) v. Mocchi (SO): 

 

Rion (KY) v. Endou (CH):