Marvel vs Capcom 3

I probably watch more MVC3 videos than actually play the game. I can say that I’m decent at the game and with some more practice can get pretty good at it. Adrian told me about a BBQ gathering that TOSF (the name of the Toronto Street Fighter scene) was having at Middlefield and Finch and told me to go so I could face the top players in the game and get better. When I arrived I saw maybe 2 familiar faces and the rest of them were 16 – 19 and new. I felt so old at that moment. Stephen, who I have played countless times growing up, was the host and I think I talked to him more that day than I have…ever. He’s normally quiet, but I guess since we’re both older now we have more to say to each other. A really nice guy.

He asked if I wanted to enter the tournament since “not a lot of people are joining” and I’m like yeah, sure, whatever. I suck, but I’ll play. It’s funny because I don’t think Stephen knows my real name because I get put down as “Strider.” I hear someone yell out “man, who the fuck is Strider?” And someone else replies “Strider is OG!” One of my friends from wayyyy back was like “I haven’t seen him in 10 years man.”

My first game was against Nick. I don’t know who Nick is, or how he plays. I didn’t think I was going to get seeded favourably since I haven’t played in so long so I assumed he was a top player. Before the match we have a button check to make sure everything’s ok. I’m playing on a couch, outside a storage unit, with a joystick on my lap, on what is probably (at best) a 20 inch screen. I keeps it real son. Match starts, I jump, get hit with Sentinel’s frying pan, match finishes.

From what I remember, Nick did something like this to me:

Jumping Fierce, launcher, 30 SECONDS OF ASS RAPING, Rocket Punch. It was the most relentless beatdown I have ever taken. Then match 2 begins, and I fare much, much better. It went like this:

I jump, Nick jumps and tries to frying pan me, I block (!!!), then he lands with sentinel, crouching medium, into A FUCKING RIDICULOUS COMBO WHERE HE DOUBLE-FISTS MY CHARACTERS, followed by a rocket punch. I hate this man with a passion right now, but I shook his hand after like a good sport. He was clearly, much, much, MUCH better than me. I asked my friend Anant who Nick was:

“I think he finished 2nd or 3rd in the last tournament.”
“I don’t feel so bad then for getting molested by his Sentinel.”

So, having been sent into the losers bracket, I imagine myself mounting a triumphant comeback against my opponents, and earning a bit of respect from everyone.

Nope.

The next guy I faced, Brett, was also pretty good and more or less beat the shit out of me. I mounted a comeback of sorts, but the joystick buttons were sticking for me. In all honesty, he would have won that match anyway, but I would have looked respectable.