Guilty Gear Slash was one of the final games for the night which brought a surprising result to everyone. Steven Harrison who’s other two team mates abandoned him and left him as a one man team still made the final seed qualifier. He was so stoked about it he jumped on the top of the table and rejoiced in his victory and stared a sprint across the tournament room on the top of tables. He was shortly stopped by Mr. Wizard who had to calm him down. Pedro “Flash Metroid” Susini along with his team mates Chaz and Andrew took top qualifying spot with ease and was poised to take it all on Sunday for the finals.
The Final Game of the night was the fighting game of all fighting games. The Hype of the Hype. It is what most gamers consider to be the ultimate addiction of fast paced 2D fighting. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 New Age of Heroes! This was the game that the East Coast Prides themselves in and the Fighting Game the Empire is most dominant in. Six (6) of the Eight (8) qualifying seeds went to players in Empire Arcadia. However even that was not enough to block out the West coast as Jal and West Coast Champion Chunksta took the last two (2) spots.
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Santhrax convincingly takes East by storm. |
Team Mates yet Rivals.
The battle continues at Evo World
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When it was all said and done the East Coast along did a fine job representing in their qualifiers. What was more impressive is that Empire Arcadia took 17 of the 64 seeds for Evo East and at least had one player to represent and compete in all 8 games.
On Sunday the final battle begun. Taking first place for Virtua Fighter 5 was New York City’s very own Denkai who defeated Empire Arcadia’s Rodney John in the final round of the final game of the final reset bracket. The battle went the distance and was considered as one of the best matches of the night. The next game was Super Street Fighter 2: Turbo where DSP defeated SRK’s Seth Killian in the final round with E. Honda. The game was filled with a lot of head butts and ochio throws by both competitors. Street Fighter 3: Third Strike was a no contest to Empire Arcadia’s Justin “Marvelous” Wong as he decimated the competition and made short work of Exodus who took second followed by Hold Dat for third.
Following Third Strike was Super Smash Brothers Melee. This game took the SRK community by storm as most of the players were amazed at the high level of play that the cute cuddly characters found in the game were capable of.
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Mew2King and Deadly Alliance/Empire Arcadia’s PC Chris took center stage for the final match. Mew2kings technical mastery of Marth was more than enough to take out the MLG 2006 National Champion PC Chris. There was a short break in the finals competition as set up for Capcom vs. SNK 2 were being made.
Nestor who qualified in losers for the game made a remarkable fight to the top to represent Team Hate. He not only won first (1st) place in CVS2 but dramatically expressed his skill in the game by beating the top 3 Empire Arcadia members who placed 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Braving the “Empire” Gauntlet Nestor first had to fight Sanford in which he was able to sizably defeat. Then his next challenge was found in Arturo who he some how manage to beat easier than he did Sanford. His final test was his arch rival who has consistently beaten him in the game for the last three (3) years…”Justin Wong”. As tempers flared and emotions got out of hand the competitors came down to it and Nestor was able to show without a doubt that he beat Justin Wong, sealing any doubt that it was a fluke. |
The Spirit of the True Gamer Community |
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Following after CVS2 was Tekken 5 DR and you can not imagine the hype behind this game. Grimy Grizzle who used Kuma ran a circus event for the crowd by juggling and playing with his opponents to frustrate them. This strategy worked well as it was able to take Empire Arcadia’s Fernando “The Game” out of his “Game”. It didn’t stop there. Sanford who was in the best position to win the event as he sailed through his matches was abruptly stopped in his tracks and sent to the losers bracket by Grimy Grizzle. Stunned by the upset Sanford was left with very little time to find a answer to Grimy Grizzly’s parlor tricks. However like the true champion that he is, Sanford sought advice from his team mate and found an answer to the Grizzle Bears circus act, proving that circus gimmicks don’t win championships. Sanford now stood as the East Coast Best Tekken Player.
Guilty Gear Slash brought more of the same from its qualifying matches as Empire Arcadia’s Steven Harrison was able to literately “Single Handedly” place third 3rd in the finals. Having no team mate Steve H. was forced to mix up his style of play against his opponents as they tried to study him and team up on him. |
It worked enough for him to get to the final three but against the best of the best it was not enough to win it all but satisfying enough to hold qualifiers to join Steve H. Team. In the end Empire Arcadia’s Pedro “Flash Metroid” Susini along with his team mates Chaz and Andrew squeaked out the victory with a last minute flurry of pressing attacks mixed up with a grab by Flash Metroid to seal the deal.
Like always the final game of the event is the game that brings the drama and the hype, Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Perhaps the game with the most depth in terms of quality per player seed MVC2 definitely made the finals the finals. Coming from the depths of the Losers bracket, Sanford Kelly went from coast to coast to defeat some of the best names in the game such as Empire Arcadia’s Dead Cell “Yipes”, Empire Arcadia’s/Philly D. Hyo, West Coast Rising star Jal and Evo World 2k6 2nd Place winner Chunksta just to make it up to his game rival Justin “Marvelous” Wong. Although the players are on the same team in the end there can only be one winner. Sanford focused throughout the entire event and found it within himself to muster up enough strength to reset the match between him and Justin and force a final set in which he took home the win. The crowd when into a frenzy at the defeat of the Evo 2k6 5 Time World MvC2 Champion, however even Sanford knows that his win is temporary and that the time for celebration will be short and the time to prepare for Evo World will be long.
In the closing report, of all teams, clans and organizations that went to Evo East 2k7, Empire Arcadia is proud to announce that it was able to thoroughly dominate the qualifiers and seeding of the event. The Empire was able to take four (4) 1st place victories along with (4) 2nd place victories and a mix of 3rd, 4th and 5th place ranks to give the east coast a solid representation and a versatile one. This is just the tip of the iceberg; with Evo North and West on the horizon the Empire has less than 3 months to prepare themselves for the best in the west as they have dominant players such as Pyrolee, John Choi, Jason Cole, Alex Valle, Alex Graham, Wolfe Graham, Jason Nelson, Empire Arcadia’s Ricky Ortiz and more. They are all poised to stop the east in there tracks at Evo World. That will be a sight to behold. So be there.
For more information on the Evo 2k Championship Series visit: http://www.evo2k.com/
For full tournament results see: Evolution East
Notable Reports in the Professional Tournament Circuit
Evo East was not the only major east coast event going on. In Memphis TN the Underground Gaming Series took place and you can bet that the Empire had a force to represent them there as well. The Mid west Tekken phenomenon Slips took first place as Empire Arcadia’s Blood Red ranked out top 10 in Tekken 5 DR. Red, however surprisingly took second 2nd in Virtua Fighter 5 as well, while Lil Majin took first. Not to be mistaken as a clone of the SRK Community or pro tournament circuit UGS is brings a different flavor to competitive gaming mixing a assortment of genres in there competitive gaming. One of the major games for the event was Gears of War. High Council took first place in the competition by defeating Team Darkside while Empire Arcadia’s TDA (Total Domination Awaits) took 3rd and 5th respectively.
In Guitar Hero 2 WulFe79 took top rank followed by Prov and PriestMLH. xxSuperElitexx, Steve Omaru and Memphis Legends all took top 3 in Dead or Alive 4. Top 3 qualifiers in each game have all qualified for the Atlantic City Grand Finals in late October in 2007. Empire Arcadia is set to be there as well. See you there.
For more information on UGS Results see: http://jc-media.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=53
Finally Empire Arcadia’s Perfect Legend has finally qualified for World Cyber Games in Dead or Alive 4 after several weeks of intense online practice. The Evolution 2k6 Championship Series Champion is going to make great head lines this year in the Dead or Alive community as he is also set for the National Championships of Championship Gaming Series (CGS) in two (2) weeks from now in Los Angles. There he will compete in the Combine qualifiers to see if he can make the CGS draft at the Playboy Mansion. Speculations have already been posted by gamers in the community that he would be an excellent fit for the Team 3D franchise. All the players in Empire Arcadia support’s Perfect Legend and wish him good luck out in California.
For more information on PL’s WCG bracket See: http://ems.esportsea.com/?a=x.schedule&stageid=363
For more information on CGS See: http://www.thecgs.com/
Pictures Credits: Jet Phi, Olivia "VOA Forest Jade" and TriForce |
