As we wait for TestYourMight.com to return, I suppose I’ll (Shock) post my shout outs here.
First off, congratulations to the winners of the various tournaments, REO for winning MLG MK9, Sawnik Fawx for Summer Jam 6 MK9, Summoning for SJ6 MKII, and I was fortunate enough to take UMK3 at SJ6 as well.
Thank you to our sponsored players Crazy Dominican, DetroitBalln and Perfect Legend for repping KombatNetwork at MLG and doing what you do best and love doing. We will see you guys soon.
Summer Jam 6:
Super deluxe thanks to Joe Dawson, a long time friend of Summoning’s who supplied us with over 8 hours of uninterrupted 10mbit 4G bandwidth through his Droid Bionic. This truly saved our tournament and made it something special. Originally we planned on running it via his USB tethering but for some reason our stream PC would not accept the drivers even though they are supposed to be built into Windows 7 Pro. even wirelessly connecting through the hotspot was impossible because it kept kicking us off the connection with any USB related devices. We will check the USB on this PC, and possibly get a new one. The issue was solved by purchasing a NIC from a very questionable pawn shop type place. It worked smashingly and we had the fastest uplink in the entire hotel. It was a lot of fun getting to run the tournament in the format we intended from the beginning, MK9 pools (in this case pre top 8 since we ran a single 32 player bracket) then MKII and UMK3 to finish out the night. Sunday on Team Spooky was a plus for me since I thought I was going to be out of there by noon, but once again Joe Dawson made it all possible by giving me a lift home. I enjoyed commentating on the matches with Swift Tom Hanks and Bobbert even though my overall knowledge of the game is limited. I believe we were the first stream game Sunday and from what I saw it kicked off at about 3000+ viewers, not sure what it finished with.
To anyone who doesn’t think the FGC gives MK enough love, remember, all those people who don’t like MK have to watch it when Vic runs it, and every time he does we gain potential players. There was a time when I would get attacked for even making a thread about MK on SRK, and since MK9 SRK has an MK forum, and for 2 years now MK games have been streamed to thousands of people who have never seen competitive MK before. Keep supporting tournaments, and keep leveling up your game to make MK worth watching and pique the interest of new players.
Onto shoutouts
Summoning, my partner in crime for this event, that was a load of equipment we brought, the longest setup and breakdown in the history of my 10+ years of Major tournament experience. It’s a good thing we set up everything we had the night before. For such a quaint tournament by major standards, it was truly a milestone for efficiency and smoothness. 5 setups for 32 players, 3 tournaments streamed in 8 hours, and 2 hours of post tournament chat interaction on KombatNetwork. Oh yeah and you had a lot to drink.
Big E, the man. Without you, the MK scene probably wouldn’t exist. You gave me the ball and let me run with it all these years, I’m still running.
Pherleece, thank you for running the MK9 stream for us. I was incredibly busy finding players, finishing the late setups and getting the tournament together since we were way understaffed and I felt “obligated” to play the UMK3 players who came all that way just to get in some offline matches. As always you do a great job. Next time we order food ourselves, just the two of us!
Dawson, you already got a shout out basically, thanks for being so selfless and letting us commandeer your phone all day Saturday.
Kazi and Annie, thank you for all the work you put into the FGC, John your graphics are fantastic, and your tech knowledge is always helpful. Annie, you are always pleasant to have around! When’s baby’s first TE Stick?
Big Stevie N (the new gimmick I’ve given you), always great seeing you, hanging out, joking around and solving technical problems together. This guy is a class act and if anyone wants MKII action at tournaments, come to him.
AC1984, so glad you are staying, we have a lot more ahead of us and I know you’ll be around a long time. I’m glad you got to stop by and play MK9 and UMK3 for a bit. Make sure you’re there for NEC all weekend! Congrats on tying the knot.
Nit’s friend John Murren who came with us and took endless notes for an article he’s writing, the trip to Philly was fun and enlightening. So glad you had a great time and enjoyed yourself seeing as the environment isn’t your thing. You really got a kick out of interacting with the chat on stream.
Sweet Johnny Cage, you sir are a legend. This man truly epitomizes everything that is good about the FGC. If you don’t know John, do it.
LI Joe, glad you could make it out last minute Saturday, always a pleasure. I still want to learn 3rd Strike hardcore. One day. I love how if you search “UMK3” in youtube, the first match is us at Road to Evo 2010, 50,000 views.
JamessMK, the Grandfather of MK, we’ll see where the road takes us from here.
Jaxel, thank you for all your help this weekend, we’ve never really gotten to have a serious conversation about anything until this weekend. I look forward to working with you and learning more in the future and the finer points about streaming.
Vic Team Spooky for running MK9 top 8 on the stream, a thousand thank you very muches.
Spike, it was very nice meeting such an OG like yourself who is so into the classic MK games. Your commentary was very smooth and entertaining and you really seemed to appreciate the opportunity to be part of it. Thanks for keeping the people into it.
Kyle, Hubbs and Matt – thank you for being lifers in this community. I’ve known you for many years now and of all the staff for Big E events, we’re the closest I feel. I don’t know if I’ll ever get into DOA or Eteneral Champions but Kyle, what gives? We NEVER get to play Super Turbo or XvSF. I’m glad I did get a few matches in at the end, shout outs to the guy I played in XvSF before I left. You really almost knocked me out of UMK3.
JeRon and Julian, two of the first people I met back in 2001 at University Pinball when I entered the scene and I love the fact that you guys are still around. Many UMK3 battles with these guys back in the day, I owe so much to you two. Philadelphia is like my first home for fighting games.
LilHustlaChris92, a pleasure meeting you and getting to play against you in UMK3, not only in casuals but in the grand finals of UMK3, impressive timing and combos with Ermac. Until next time.
nWo, I’m so sorry we left you out of the bracket for UMK3, fortunately quick thinking helped me figure out how to bye you into it so all was not lost. I hope you make the trip out again and if we have more staff next time I will spend more time working with you on UMK3.
Swift Tom Hanks, thanks for coming by on such short notice and filling in on commentary, running brackets and being an all around swell guy. Commentary was fun, I think I learn more about the game that way than playing. I hope you stick around after you come back from Scotland. See you at YesterCades soon.
Bobbert, nice meeting you (I think this was the first time we’ve met) and doing commentary for the top 8 as well. You had a great showing in the tournament.
Cibernetico, Alex Smith, Chris G, 7L, Josh99, Chrispy Cream, FlipinFlava, GoldfishKeeper, Eazail, Ultimizer, Stickbug, great seeing you all as usual.
995Phil, DarkRob, DreemerNJ, and all the others who were missed at this tournament, see you soon.
And one last shout out, to the Prophet, for being the reason why I’m even making a shout out list about a fighting game tournament. Thank you Old Man.
First he teased a new main, then he goes out and dominates MK9 at the MLG Summer Championships in Raleigh, NC, held this past weekend. REO defeated DMG CD Jr 4-2 in the Grand Finals. VSM/EMP Maxter & TFA/RZR Pig of the Hut round out the Top 4. You can see the full brackets from the event right