(Poster's note: My gamestyle can look really boring since the character I'll be handling is bottom tier, really slow, not combo friendly at all and with a lot of recovery for almost every move... I also apologize if my hideous look traumatizes someone... Yes, you shall be seeing my face).
During Easter holidays I went to visit some friends, but I also managed to test my skills and luck in a fighting game tournament. The tournament in question was meant to an all Ark System Works games' events, the host even got support from ASW Europe: Blaz Blue (Both single and couples), Guilty Gear XX Accent Core +, Sengoku Basara X, Hokuto no Ken and supposedly Persona 4 Arena... But since P4A wasn't released in time to make the cut (and it's region locked... Thanks Zen United ¬¬), so ASW Europe suggested the host to replace P4A with Arcana Heart 3.
Arcana Heart 3 is a fightining game that has a roster filled with only underaged girls be either lolis or teenagers (Baphomet's wet dream) and each character has a guardian spirit (called Arcana) that can affect her in several ways (making her move faster, hitting harder, giving her a triple jump...), this is also a combo heavy game.
My story revolves around this game's tournament, and I'll be linking all the videos of my battles that were streamed (sadly not of all them were streamed though).
While finishing one of the minor tournament's brackets, the tournament's staff procceeded to start making the draw for this tournament... but sadly the staff completely forgot to add a seeding system and the groups ended up having a uneven match... A couple of groups had no level at all, while another group became the Death's Group... needless to say I fell into that group... Group A.
Pools: Group A
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Game 1: Sometimes a player's skill can overcome a character's tier. And the training I made with my lovely bottom tier was enough to overcome a character that was Top Tier.
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Game 2: I found myself before a fighting game prodigy (Best Blaz Blue player in Spain among other feats), I tried my hardest... It was not enough.
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Game 3: I couldn't do anything here... the matchup was simply too bad since my character can't do nothing at all, my character fares too poorly against zoning characters.
Group A: 3rd
I was out... However while I was storing my Caladbolg (that's how i call my controller XD), I heard a loud "Fuuuuuuuu" (more like a "Coñoooooo" we're in Spain) it was from the host (the guy that beat me on Game 2)... he finally realized the mistake he made by not seeding the draw since he sent a strong player (Top 8 level) home way too early (while it could have been easily avoided) he told me he was really sorry and apologized profusely to me, luckily for me the members of Group C (but for the guy who ended up 1st) overheard the conversation and conscious about the situation and their own low level willingly decided to offer me the 2nd place of that group. That's a show of sportmanship, camaraderie and above all friendship that I'll never forget.
Group C: 2nd
Thanks to that friendly solution (that relieved the host aswell) I was able to advance into the brackets, however as a 2nd I went directly to the losers bracket since only the 1st of the group moved to the winners bracket.
Losers Bracket: 1st Round (No video sadly).
I faced the second of Group D, who used Heart (series' main heroine and shoto character), as a player he's better than me but he's not that used to how Arcana Heart works and thanks to that I was able to come out on top and keep myself alive in the tournament
Losers Bracket: Quarterfinals
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I thought I was done for sure... Both of the character he used against me are really bad matchups against my poor Fiona, Konoha (the first) is really fast and her rushdown style works wonder at pressuring her rivals, while Maori (the second) excels at zoning thanks to her ability to summon helpers (aka her sisters)... Not to mention that my rival as Fiona player himself, pretty much knew whatever I could try against him.
However I tried my hardest and never stopped believing in the miracle... I made it into the Top 5 surprising everyone.
Losers Bracket: Semifinals
[youtube]vsKcpORAhqI[/youtube]
My black beast... It doesn't matter the tournament, it doesn't matter the game... I will always find him, I will always fight him, He will always send me home... The level difference was way too big (he ended up winning the tournament), but unlike other times this he sure had to work extra hard to beat me (I almost got him in some points of the round)
And that's how my dream ended, thanks to hard work, a bit of luck and a touching show of sportsmanship I was able to make it into the Top 4 in a national tournament. I ended up being Spain's 4th best player (at competitive level) at Arcana Heart 3.
A show how useless players can get far if they try their hardest and never stop believing in themselves... I'm so proud of what I achieved.
Fiona, you may be Bottom Tier in the game yet you're Top Tier in my heart <3
