In quite possibly the most bizarre CvS2 final ever recorded, it’s the last match of the first grand finals set, with JWong coming out of winners bracket and Steve H on the verge of elimination.
players: Justin Wong (C-ChunLi/Vega/Sagat-2) vs Steve Harrison (P-Sagat/Cammy/Blanka-2)
observations:
If Justin Wong was crowned the world’s most effective turtle player of the decade, i wouldn’t argue with that decision. It’s pretty much impossible to make that guy attack when he decides to camp out. So while it’s impressive that Steve H comes from behind to win the tournament, it’s even more impressive that his sanity survives this match. Justin makes excellent use of the clock, burning his meter at 1:28 to buy the first round. He literally sits out the entire fourth round to minimize the amount of life Blanka can regain, which basically gives Vega free reign over the last 15 seconds. But his strategy backfires in the final round when Blanka’s lvl3 super does just barely enough damage to tip the scales.
game: Capcom vs SNK 2 (console)
venue: C3 Memorial Day Madness – Grand Finals, Set 1, Match 3
recorded on May 24th, 2008
wow that was strange, I normally love these turtle fests, but this just felt wrong
Well, basically Vega was in full control of that fourth round. He’s got 15% life compared to R2-Blanka’s 100%, so he knows he’s probably going to lose the round. The amount of life you regain in CvS2 is based on how much time is left on the clock when you won the previous round.
So Vega basically waits 85 seconds before moving to ensure that even if he hits Blanka once, the damage will carry over to the next round. Blanka can’t do anything about it because Vega can punish almost everything, so it’s not worth the risk.
It’s a simple question of “will Steve H have the patience not to fall into that trap?” Somehow his patience holds up, and he still remains focused enough to close out the last fifteen seconds without losing too much life or running into a super.
I understood that, and even if I don’t agree with it it makes sense ( come on Justan whiff a jabs or something, you call that a bait? ). I guess it’s just that it feels very robotic, I’m a very turtleing player but I think sometimes you have to do something completely random and unsafe like a tiger uppercut or a jump in just to put the fear of it in him. I guess these guys are on a different level.
Keep in mind that if Justin had won this match, he would’ve won the tournament. There was a fair amount of money on the line too.
And actually the second set is quite a bit more dynamic, simply because this match proved to Justin that he won’t win by outwaiting Steve H.
I mean, Steve H deserves a lot of credit. He clearly has crazy parrying skills (2:45). The fact that he didn’t get baited into proving that he can parry everything shows his maturity as a player. I know it’s not flashy, but he really deserved to win this.
Steve gets a lot of shit for his playstyle from HAV. I think seeing it in IV and then in older games, you really get a sense of how different the games are. But then again, don’t ask Steve to explain what’s going on in his head. He once described a match up as “chopping down a tree.”
Haha it’s definitely different, that’s for sure. But then again he plays P-Groove so he’s just making it up as he goes along. I mean there’s not much out there for him to refer to. Most of the Japanese P-Groove players use oddball characters so P-CBS is surprisingly rare.
Every Wednesday, I head out to Xanadu Games in Baltimore to play some CvS2.
Seeing people with such high skill like Steve H, HAV, Pat, the names go on, just amaze me.
I sure as hell wish I was born earlier so I could have been in the scene earlier for this shit.
Don’t overlook the present. Trust me, that whole period from 3S/CvS/CvS2 onward was completely overshadowed by MvC2. So it was never all that easy to find good competition, unless MvC2 was the game you happened to be playing.
At any rate, it all pales in comparison to the insane revival SF4 has brought to the community. If you really want to sample the competitive side of SF, you’d be doing yourself a disservice by turning your back on SSF4/MvC3/SFxT. Just pick one and see where it takes you. High-level anything will make you a better player.