
















Submit Blog
Tips for Playing Fighting Games OnlineDecember 6, 2012 by



Do not rage quit.



Send a “good game” message ever now and then.






Don’t worry about your rank.



Don’t abuse lag.








Try not to blame losses on bad connection.







Submit Blog
How Much Time is too Much Time Spent Playing a Game?November 17, 2012 by

Has it really been an entire year since Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom came out? Why yes it has. It’s also been a year since I began blogging (somewhat) consistently.

I’m just going to go through some stats regarding how much time I've spent with UMvC3 over the course of one year. I wanted to do this with the original but that game only lasted nine months. However, I think I logged in something like 350+ game hours within those 9 months. But who cares about that dinosaur game. We are talking about Ultimate.

So in one year my total game time was…..475 hours and 5 minutes. 465:43 hours were spent offline (going through arcade mode for trophies, doing some trials, sessions on my console, and a lot of training mode). 9:22 were spent playing online (mostly drunk). So counting the Vanilla Marvel 3 play time, It totals 825+ hours in about 18 months.

Hold on. What about all the time I spent playing Marvel that isn't counted as “game time?” This includes all the time I spent playing on other peoples console, playing at PAX, playing in tournaments, reading the strategy guide, watching streams of tournaments (mostly while working out), watching archived match vids (mostly while eating), discussing the game with my friends and just thinking about the current state of the game.

After 800+ hours of Marvel over the past year and a half, I only wish I had the opportunity to play more. Unfortunately, the availability of people for me to play with fluctuates so I rarely get to play as much as I want to. I could always play the game whenever I want, but It’s not fun playing alone or online.

Lastly, here what I’m currently working on. There’s a new trend of Dante combos using air dash C. I’m still trying to find a way to optimize it, but It’s difficult when using the ground bounce so early. Because I'm still not sure exactly what I want to do with this, I decided to end the combo with some old Devil Trigger ish.


Submit Blog
Sample Combos for MarkRyan (Nova/Dormammu/Doom)November 12, 2012 by

These are some combos for MarkRyan's potential new team, Nova/Dormammu/Doom. None of these combos are optimized. They're just meant to give you an idea of what to do.

I have no idea how to use Nova so his combo is kinda sucky. I also think there is some flexibility with choosing his assist. Centurion Rush M is an overhead with ground bonce. He could extend Dorm combos but not so much with Doom. Doom's j.S actually uses your ground bounce unless it's done in a super jump combo so sometimes the assist will just end the combo without you expecting it. Also, Doom and Dorm probably won't get many unblockable opportunities. The Centurian Rush L wall bounces which Dorm doesn't need because he has Dark Matter, but Doom could always use it to extend combos. But due to the order of your team, Nova's assist should help Dorm more than Doom.

The Dormammu stuff is really weird. I'm not used to comboing with spells and I couldn't get the Flame Carpet to function the way I wanted to. I couldn't get max time from Run Run Ball to charge up spells. I think you need to space the DHC so that the opponent is as far away from Dorm as possible, but won't flip out before the ball connects. That requires some specific DHC's or I suck and didn't do it properly. I think charging 1 spell is possible from that combo during Run Run Ball. You can also extend the DHC combo with Doom missiles similar to how I do it in the second video.

The Doom combo at the end is tricky. You have to air dash down/back to get the assist to connect. It can be made much easier if you do a simpler Doom combo. The hitstun limited the assist extension quite a bit. If I did a combo with less hitstun, I could extend it with Assist, OTG s.H, jump cancel into j.M, H Footdive, S Footdive. It's the same extension I do with Dante Jam Session

[Edit] I don't know what happened with the last video. It cuts out for some reason. It ends with air Finger Lasers DHC into Dorm's Super. It does something like 1.1 mil

Submit Blog
Tier WhoresOctober 23, 2012 by

In case you don’t know, a “tier whore” is a term used in fighting games that describes someone who chooses the best characters. Here are some of my thoughts on the subject. The first part addresses people who have a problem with tier whoring. The second part addresses people who feel the need to choose top tier characters.


People want to win

People want to win. Get over it. Every character is fair game until it’s banned. You have the ability to choose the character that is most likely to win, but you didn’t. You have no reason to be mad at someone else for making the “correct” decision.


Everyone chooses a character the feel is strong

No one messes around with a character and says “This character sucks. It’s impossible for me to win with him/her. This is going to be my main.” No one does that. Everyone chooses a character that they like for one reason or another and one valid reason to like a character is the feeling of “I can win with this character.” You probably did the same thing, but you didn’t choose the best character so too bad.


Using the character helps to learn the matchup

One way of learning a matchup is to use the character you have trouble fighting. That way, you can get inside the head of a typical player of that character. Maybe the tier whoring person you just lost to is just trying to learn how to beat that character.


Some games are really unbalanced

Some games have overpowered characters. Try playing SSFIV AE (pre-2012) not as the twins or Fei-Long. Try playing Third Strike without Yun or Chun-Li. Try playing MvC2 without MSS, MSP, or the few other top tier teams. It’s just not worth the effort at high level competitive play for most people. It’s possible to win without playing top tier, but you are making things very difficult for yourself by not doing so. You’ll just get frustrated when you lose to a less skilled player who used the best characters.


The best character may not be the best character for you

Every player has a specific style and must choose a character that can take advantage of the player’s strengths. Sometimes, the best character may not be the character that fits your style. If you aren’t a technical player, then you will never fully utilize Zero in Marvel 3. If you are a keep away type of player, then you will never win a tournament with Cammy in AE2012. You may be hurting yourself by choosing the top tier.


Take some responsibility for your losses

I often hear people say “Oh well maybe I should just choose a top tier character too” after they lose a match. Shut up and take responsibility for your loss. Play better. Top tier characters are only top tier at the top level of play. So you need to work your way up as an overall player before you make a top tier truly look top tier….well I guess Phoenix in vanilla MvC3 is an exception.


Check the matchups

Let’s take a step back to 2009 during the days of Vanilla SFIV. Sagat was easily the best character followed by Akuma and Ryu. Let’s say you are a Ryu player who lost to a Dhalsim player. You may think “Oh I should tier whore it up and choose Sagat.” If I recall correctly, Dhalsim had a 5-5 matchup against Ryu and a 5-5 matchup against Sagat in Vanilla despite his overall low ranking. So yeah, Sagat may get you more wins overall, but your problem is Dhalsim and choosing Sagat won’t help you.


You may be that much more comfortable with a worse character

Take some pride in the work you put into a not so top tier character. Dieminion has been playing Guile forever and he makes that character look top tier. It’s not just because Dieminion is a great player, it’s his ridiculous in depth knowledge of the character.  You can solve problems significantly faster when you are in tuned with a character’s tools even if the character isn’t good.


Lastly here's another video that's barely relevant to the rest of this blog. It's my hands playing Morrigan in Marvel 3. Scrubs everywhere love hating on Chris G for using this character. She's no joke. She takes a lot of work. If you're one to complain about it being too cheap, then you probably haven't actually played her.

Submit Blog