Almost 300 fighting game competitors met at E-Sports Arena Oakland to duke it out last weekend for the Bay Area Brawl fighting game tournament. Bay Area Brawl brought together some of the best players from Dragonball Fighterz, Super Smash Bros, Tekken 7, Street Fighter V, and the newcomer, BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. Here’s the breakdown of the tournament, complete with links to the winners pages and match analysis. Enjoy!
The venue
The Oakland Esports arena is the third location in the Esports Arena franchise located in North America, and further proof of the growth of Esports. The Arena is a 16,000 square foot facility that launched in May, and has a unique modular layout to handle different size events. There was food provided in the venue, and the parking was literally connected to the building. Overall the venue was impressive, and perfect for Esports.
the strongest Z warriors – left to right: Yohoshie, Apologyman, Supernoon
Dragonball Fighterz – Top 8
1st – Apologyman 2nd – Supernoon
3rd – Yohosie 4th – Beesu
5th – Pzpoy 5th – NC Pain
7th – Gotham Paladin 7th – Dacidbro
Winner analysis:
Apologyman’s point Piccolo countered super dashes left and right, he used Piccolo’s defensive aerial hitboxes to stuff dashes on reaction, and surprised everyone by using his counter to answer the terrifying Bardock mixup. His Tien made an excellent anchor, and won him several matches matches as well. By comparison his Cell play was not up to the level of his other characters, losing the Cell mirror against Supernoon. But as the casters mentioned, even an imperfect Cell has to be respected, and his assist alone was enough to get Apologyman the win.
Apologyman (Piccolo, Cell, Tien) Vs Supernoon (Cell, Bardock, Kid Buu)
Supernoon wrecked face at the Brawl. The only one who was able to beat him the entire tournament was Apologyman. Supernoon was able to get some success in the Cell Vs Cell mirror, but Apologyman’s Tien gave him the edge with carry potential, and Piccolo was a constant threat. The match appeared to be in Apologyman’s favor in winners finals but in the grand finals Supernoon took first match decisively, unfortunately it turned out the reason for that was Apologyman’s buttons were wrong, once they were fixed the match went back to Apologyman’s unapologetic domination.
Super Smash Bros. – Top 8
7th – :^) (Smiley) 7th – Sean
Winner analysis:
Trevonte’s Shiek play hasn’t dulled at all. His performance throughout the tournament was scary dominant. He used Shiek’s strong tilt moves and ranged needles to rack up percentages to the point where his opponents where afraid of any hit. Once he had advantage, he would play passively and wait for a counter opportunity to preserve his percentage and hold his lead. Legit sent Trevonte to losers with some solid Diddy play, but couldn’t stop his inevitable victory dance.
Trevonte’s Shiek Vs Legit’s Diddy
Though Legit sent Trevonte to losers earlier in the tournament, the grand finals was one sided. Legit had a strong showing with his Diddy neutral and throw mixups, but Trevonte’s adjusted his Shiek playstyle to compensate. He played more neutral and took the match offstage constantly. Trevonte took advantage of Diddy’s predictable recovery all while dodging Legit’s projectiles and throw attempts. Legit got one round, but Trevonte dominated grand finals, resetting the bracket immediately and only dropping one set to Legit.
best street fighters in the bay – left to right: Dankadillas, Samurai, Saliou
Street Fighter 5 – Top 8
1st – XsK_Samurai 2nd – Saliou
3rd – Dankadillas 4th – Ultima
5th – Penguinboy 5th – Alex Myers
7th – Pavocado 7th – THE_DTRAN
Winner analysis:
Samurai’s Akuma play was fiery, in that there were a lot of fireballs. His strategy consisted of zoning the opponents out with projectiles, then punishing jump in attempts with his DP. Once he had conditioned his opponent to block he would use jump ins to start his mixup and break their guard. On characters that handled the mixup well he would incorporate the divekick to catch them off guard, then go back to consistent damage with the fireballs. Samurai won the tournament with exceptionally safe neutral and inhuman reactions on his reversals. He would meditate between matches to keep himself frosty, and apparently it worked, so practice your mantra.
Samurai’s Akuma Vs Saliou’s Urien
Samurai’s charged fireballs gave him the edge in the projectile war. Saliou recognized this pretty quickly and altered his strategy to compensate. He would forward dash aggressively in every gap Samurai left him, and it worked several times. Saliou’s Urien combos showed how terrifying the character can be in the right hands, but Samurai recognized the threat and stayed out of close range as much as possible. Though Saliou was able to reset the bracket, Samurai edged him out in damage through consistent fireball output and strong adaptation.
Tekken 7 – Top 8
1st – Inserity 2nd – Face
3rd – WHATZIT TOOYA 4th – Kawiggles
5th – twitchShangles 5th – No Sriracha
7th – [Safe] 7th – Morton_Salty
Winner analysis:
Inserity’s Hworang was a offensive monster. He stayed on offense through almost all of his matches, utilizing the characters fast normals to keep his opponents guessing. He used his launcher to punish frequently, and usually ended those combos in corner mixups, keeping his pressure going. Though he had some trouble with Face’s parries with Geese, he was able to clutch a win in finals. On defense Inserity predominately dodged, going for counter hits rather than risk parrying. The game plan was high risk/high reward on defense, but consistent pressure on offense, the latter won Inserity the tournament.
Inserity’s Hwoarang Vs Face’s Geese
In their first matchup in winner’s finals, Face was able to counter Inserity’s offense well. Face punished Inserity right into losers, predicting his launchers and forcing Hworang to whiff kicks. Their second matchup in grand finals was a different story. Inserity applied constant pressue with Hwoarang’s speed and baited Face into making mistakes during his punish. When Inserity reset the bracket Face started showing some nerves, he whiffed several supers with Geese, which Inserity took advantage of to eventually claim the victory.
BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle – Top 8
1st – Nyan-derthal 2nd – GcYoshi13
3rd – z-nice 4th – Zankoku
7th – jawnsunn 7th – Solacracy
Note: Unfortunately Blazblue never made it on stream, so we don’t have analysis because winners finals wasn’t broadcasted. The game is still new and players are still figuring out the mechanics, but it shows great potential and were excited to see what the pros have discovered by EVO.
That’s our Breakdown of the Bay Area Brawl! Did you Compete? Who were you rooting for? Who do you want to see at EVO 2018? Let us know in the comments below! And as always, please LIKE and SHARE if you enjoyed this content!
Until next time, GG
-Dan