I wonder if Daigo is going to keep showing up at Premier events. I know Markman said he'd be sending his killers to all of the US ones at least, but in the past Daigo has liked to remain hidden until Evo. However it feels like actually competing in the tourney scene has done a lot to get him back into form. I'm hoping to see him show up at all the Japanese and US events and continue playing out of his mind. However Tokido will keep showing up until he qualifies certainly.

Watching play on the level of what Daigo did yesterday, while disheartening to see guys like GamerBee and 801 strider get beaten is frustrating, is amazing to watch. I wonder how many people are analyzing those FADC tricks already to steal them for their own ERyu.

I just wanted to jump in and say what an awesome time I had during NCR/Hype this weekend. Huge thanks to @edgework, @frobie and whoever else I missed from that team. Also giant thanks to @hassun and @flstyle for being cool with questions and generally keeping chat hype, fly and real. They know their stuff but most importantly they are respectful all around, both to users and players. Big ups.

For anyone who knows nothing about the FGC (I am 3-4 year scrub watcher) I'd say feel free to jump in and watch in chat and ask questions. I can't say enough how much I look forward to the next showdown and catching it on GB.

Some thoughts from my point of view, for what they're worth:

• Seth has always been my favorite man on the mic, and still is, but I was surprised how much I liked the guys at Hypespotting 4. In general I found they were far more impartial & interesting than many of the NCR crew who I feel I get shout outs a lot.
• I'm sure more experienced fans will tell me I'm wrong, but I feel there's a lot of hyperbole about Daigo "completely obliterating everyone in his sleep". He very clearly demonstrated he was the best. But there was work involved. Maybe this is inexperience talking but I can't look at a match where you have less than 10% lifebar left as one where you "easily dismantled" your opponent. It's more complicated than that anyway.
• Random match that sticks out: Kazunoko vs White Gun.
• Every now and then I am afraid that an AMERICA ONLY attitude is going to sweep the FGC but I feel more and more that that perception is based on a small number of outliers, rather than a true-blue community attitude

@geraltitude: Thank you! I echo your thanks to @edgework, @frobie & @hassun!

I enjoyed the English commentators too, that 3 man team of the 2 commentators and the producer running the stream are doing big things for Europe FGC events. Daigo is doing a lot better than in recent years but I look to his attempts to finish KnuckleDu off with a raging demon and immediately losing the round as a sign that he's not overly dominant, not yet at least.

@westernwizard: PR_Balrog was definitely very happy to see the Smug vs Daigo match and Daigo's methods for dealing with it. Smug absolutely tore his E. Ryu to shreds when they fought earlier.

I definitely think MCZ will now concentrate on getting Tokido in the CapCup (and let's be honest, he really deserves it). I'm sure Daigo and even Mago will show up at events but the pressure is definitely a lot lower for them. Meanwhile I expect someone like Xian who is also already qualified to still go as hard as he possibly can to win every single event.

@geraltitude: The Daigo thing is a double edged sword. Because he's the most famous fighting game player around the casual viewer might think he just streamrolls everyone easily. Then there are the people who know a bit more but still not that much (typical 'stream monster') who think everyone who loses even once is 'free' and everyone who wins anything 'unbeatable'. I think that among the actual competitive players the view of someone like Daigo is much more realistic and balanced.

That being said if there is a fighting game hall of fame he would be one of the first candidates to be included. He is that damn good. Few top players can absolutely obliterate other top players like he can. That just doesn't mean he doesn't actually have to work hard to do what he does. I would compare him to someone like Roger Federer in tennis.

As for the "in his sleep" thing, that's more because he does not show a lot of emotion during competition and the fact that he has the raretalent to sleep just about everywhere (very important for a world traveller).

@flstyle: I don't think extremely dominant players are going to exist for the rest of SFIV's lifespan. Certainly not on the level of Infiltration or Daigo's runs. Too many top players, too much money on the line. Even Momochi who had a good claim to the "best player in the world right now" title after after winning the Capcom Cup and Shadowloo Showdown can be taken out before top 8 at these majors.

If 7-9 of the top 10 players in the world are at EVERY DAMN TOURNEY then of course someone is going to repeat. The US might squeak through one or two wins at some point but who knows when that'll be. Even if you assume that a different player in the top 10 wins every tourney there's still 6 more tournaments after that.

@fredchuckdave: Yeah it's very likely that it will happen but at least there are still plenty of killers who have yet to qualify. Kazunoko, Tokido, Sako (if he cares, which he probably doesn't), Nemo, Fuudo, Pepeday, Poongko, Infiltration, Gamerbee, Bonchan, Luffy, Valmaster, Snake Eyez, Xiao Hai, Smug, Nuckledu, PR_Balrog, Justin Wong, Ricky Ortiz, Ryan Hart, Dieminion, etc.

And that's not even counting the unknown new killers that might (hopefully) snag a spot. Either way those automatic qualification spots will always be hotly contested.

Also good news, John Choi has posted a post mortem of NCR. Due to the version fuckup in Top 16 and Kazunoko being pretty screwed because of it he is offering a ticket to another US major for Kazunoko as compensation. Good stuff.

@hassun Speaking of Daigo vs Smug I would love to see the inputs from that match. I saw somewhere people claiming Daigo was using the tech + focus trick when having less than 2 bars to beat smug's overhead/low mixups for all those focuses that were blowing him up so hard. If so, interesting to see it was still being used even with red focus limiting it.

Also, speaking of Nemo, he can't make SCR now (last I heard at least) because of the uncertainty about when it is happening, which is a bummer. I don't like Rolento, but watching HIM play it is super interesting because he does thing no one else even dreams of to make the character look higher tier.

God the more Premier events that happen the more excited I get. These tournaments are getting crazier by the week as people start digging deeper (see again: Daigo going ham on 801 Strider).

That Sony money is really helping make this year awesome. Every tournament has been super hype because everyone is hungry. It's a good time to like fighting games.

Any archives of NCR Top 16? CapcomFighters has everything behind a paywall I believe.

@thunderslash: over time they're putting the videos up here

https://www.youtube.com/user/CapcomFightersTV/videos

Lot still to upload but they're off to a good start.

Just want to say ditto to What @geraltitude said.

Thanks so much for hosting this guys! Was a ton of fun!

Heads up to everyone, I am going to need .gifs/.webms of the Smug vs Poongko matches. Especially Smug's reactions towards the camera and Infiltration's reactions to Poongko taking off his shirt.

@westernwizard: I'm not good enough at fighting games to really understand that 4-button tech thing Daigo did but it sure seemed to work.

@hassun: It's explained in this old vid. The reason red focus nerfs it a bit is because 3 of those buttons used are also used for red focus, so he would be wasting meter if he did it above 2 bars of EX. Daigo probably noticed that Smug's most used wakeup strategies are grabs and meaty lows and overheads. The 4 button tech counters all those strats, it allows you to tech throws and armor through meaties.

tl;dr Option Select Fighter 4

@hassun: Neither of these are gifs but I'm guessing you mean these moments?

@thunderslash: Yeah I watched the video but I just don't know enough about the game's mechanics or fighting games in general to really grasp its significance. As far as I can tell the Daigo match was a good example of the player being adapted to and the Gamerbee match was a good demonstration of the weaknesses of Dudley.

Topanga World League is very soon (April 9 - 12) so we'll get a chance to see how well Smug and Poongko recover and adapt on such a short notice. Smug vs Sako will be interesting too since he's probably the best Elena in the world right now.

@starvinggamer: Indeed. Well, Smug did a few more than that but that was one of them. I think he did at least 3 including that one. Smiling/winking at the camera, "ooh" face and the one you posted. I'll have to wait until their matches are uploaded to CapcomFighters.

John Choi has come out to clarify some things about NCR, specifically the late pool entries from Smug and others, and the use of the wrong version in finals.

He also ends with offering compensation to the player who's result changed due to the replaying of the matches, Kazunoko, with a paid trip to SCR or any other CPT Premier event. Which is a SUPER SOLID thing for him to do.

Good Guy Choi

@viciousbearmauling: John Choi: stand-up guy and Daigo killer.

Since there won't be a special thread about Topanga I'm just going to post some stuff from it here. In other news I have now put "Japan (Daigo)" next to E. Ryu on my list of countries/players who are the best at a certain character in SFIV.

The Capcom Pro Talk episode this week is pretty great, mostly for K-Brad's discussion of Mago.

That look on Xiao Hai's face at the end ...

@fredchuckdave: You mean because Mike Ross lost even though he was using his best characters right?

Seriously though I love that ep. K-Brad is always great. And of course Mago is pretty great too.

@mycroft_ampersand:

Ridiculous stuff on display at Topanga. Shame it's so hard to access for most people. I really hope Topanga will get more lenient with uploading the matches online at a later date. Or at least make it easier for people outside of Japan to experience the action.

@hassun: Actually I lied, the whole episode is just amazing. The most repeatable line is definitely K Brad's impression of Mago though.

Smug and Momochi just after their Topanga World League 2 match:

His instagram has some cool stuff too.

Yeah ESL doing one tournament for an upcoming game is a opportunity for profit for them, it doesn't mean the game has just succeeded to 'esports' before its release.

So the final day of Topanga World League 2 is promising to be incredible. And all it took was Daigo having a bad day! It went from Daigo above everyone else to this downright insane situation:

(Table credit: Eventhubs)

The matches to be played tomorrow:

Bonchan vs Daigo

Bonchan vs Momochi

Daigo vs Xian

Luffy vs Poongko

Luffy vs Smug

Momochi vs Sako

Poongko vs Xian

Sako vs Xiao Hai

Smug vs Xiao Hai

It's important to note that head to head record precedes the game differential at this tournament.

Xiao Hai and Smug are out of the running but even Momochi can still mathematically win right now.

E.g.

Bonchan vs Daigo

Bonchan vs Momochi

Daigo vs Xian

Luffy vs Poongko

Luffy vs Smug

Momochi vs Sako

Poongko vs Xian

Sako vs Xiao Hai

Smug vs Xiao Hai

=

Bonchan: 4-4

Daigo: 5-3

Luffy: 4-4

Momochi: 5-3

Poongko: 4-4

Sako: 4-4

Smug: 3-5

Xian: 5-3

Three-way tie for first place but in this scenario Momochi's head to head would have him win the entire thing since he beat bot Daigo and Xian.

Nothing stops the momochi train.

@hmoney001: Despite his great start Daigo has really gotten himself into trouble with his poor performance today. Sako is now actually a major threat to him. He could win both matches tomorrow and still not win if Sako does as well. Xian has similar problems with Bonchan.

In other news: The MK Fatal 8 exhibition tournament is starting soon. Let's see how the "biggest fighting game franchise" and "flagship game when it comes to fighting games and competition" does at its first outing.

MK X Exhibition started. http://www.twitch.tv/netherrealm

Pick Quan Chi. Loose.

All is right in the world.

Yep Kung Lao top tier.

Damn, Perfect Legend vs. Ryan Hart was hype, I forgot all about match extension on double KO.

That match was hype as fuck. So good.

I still want to try Kung Jin.

Who is the grappler charter in MKX? I have no idea how most of the characters play.

At the very least Ferra/Torr and Kano have grappler variations, I assume Kotal Kahn and Jax do too.

May have to look at Kano.

@jjor64: Kano has never been good in any MK iteration. =\

I'm so excited to fight 60% Scorpion players online.

@hmoney001: you are talking to someone who mains Honda in USF4.

All my match predictions have been correct so far.

@jjor64: Oh... *brofist

Scorpion ninjutsu variation looks cheap as hell... and I like it.

@hassun: All your blowups you mean.

Ume uppercuts.

Meter burn for 1% damage = totally worth it.

@fredchuckdave: it's day one. Yolo strats will work.

@fredchuckdave: Still at 100% though. :V

@l1ghtn1n: Scorpion might be God tier, but will he be Superman tier?