SoulCast Episode #2: Esom

MLG and NCR are now behind us, and continuing on our merry path we HAVE to talk with some folks who were at these events, right? This episode we're focusing on the MLG experience and had a chat with a very well known player, Esom. (Before you ask, that is his real name.) Esom has a ton of knowledge not only from the fighting game community but specifically with Soul Calibur.

Funked and I were really excited to sit down with Esom and grill him on the MLG experience, as well as his matches with the top placers that happened outside of MLG. And, of course, we talk about a lot of random stuff with Calibur, even making a surprise appearance in the 8wayrun chat to take a couple questions.

Some notes on the actual video/audio tracks: I did upload the original audio file onto our Buzzsprout account, so if you're just looking to download the mp3 and put it on to your mp3 player, phone, or whatever, you can. I also used a different converter program, so hopefully the audio on the YouTube video is better for everyone this time around. Lastly, I think there are a couple moments where the sound either cutout or some background noise made it in. I tried my best to make it as smooth as possible. I am but human. :(

[Warning: NSFW/EXPLICIT]

YouTube

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SoulCast #2 - Esom [EXPLICIT]

8wayrun thread: http://8wayrun.com/threads/a-soul-calibur-podcast-soulcast.12186/
VGF site: http://www.videogamingfederation.org/
Buzzsprout page: http://www.buzzsprout.com/3308/45068-soulcast-2-esom

Thanks again to the 8wayrun crew for letting us do this, and thanks to everyone listening. STAY FREE!... just like us. :)

 

I think the main thing is that though many weren't there, they also know that there's some basic stuff MLG messed up. IE: Ruleset problem that screwed Esom over, region seeding, etc. And some of the people they hired should know this stuff. Along with that, there isn't anybody who wasn't there that knows how the tournament was run. But everyone who watched the stream on the first day can tell you it wasn't that great. I heard that after the first day, things got better for the stream but I wasn't able to watch it (And I've also heard people say that it didn't improve as well).

So yeah, to any outsider, criticism is easier to believe I think.

I heard the stream wasn't that good, but that doesn't mean the tournament itself wasn't good. I hope people aren't trying to judge the credibility of the tournament itself over the stream. My point is I never see this much complaining over any other tournaments, but when MLG or something else big that is a non-community ran tournament comes along, people in the community just want to shun it away. Too mainstream or something? Decent amount of FG players have this Hipster Mentality. It's like when CGS was around, mad people hated it for no reason. Those people can have fun at their horribly ran Indy tournaments. I'll continue to support events like MLG.

Now, as for a suggestion for the stream. Seeing how each round is usually done every 30 mins, more matches could probably be held off to show more matches during each 30 min rounds. There was one round, (I think before winners round 3) where it was something like an hour and a half break between, they probably could have streamed almost every winners round 2 matches in that hour and a half. Mix that in with the commercials they HAVE to show, some interviews, and we can have a good program.

 

Though the region seeding is a minor issue that can be fixed for next time, Kayane and Keev didn't play each other until the very end of their bracket to see who makes it in top 8 winners....

Lets be real here. Most of the tournaments you go to like NEC, GVN, etc, are some of the worst ran tournaments for Soul Calibur. MLG did so many things right, and people have the nerve to complain about a tournament that was actually RAN GOOD? It's obvious that you have low expectations for tournaments if you like these half-assed community ran tournaments over and actual good tournament like MLG. So why are people mad hating on MLG, especially when they weren't even there?

This "basic shit" is still at what, 99%? Leagues above most FG tournaments.

Kayane and Keev played in Winners 5. Still doesn't change the fact that they shouldn't have been in the same side of a 128 man bracket if not for their "random" seeding.

I also have to seriously disagree with the community tournaments being half assed, because if this was the case, then I wouldn't be at those tournaments to begin with, nor would alot of people as far as SC is concerned, nor would France have flown over to compete in the past two NECs. Even Justin Wong took notice of how things were ran.

https://twitter.com/#!/JWonggg/status/171606843796365312

I also don't have low expectations. I have the expectation that the tournaments that I go to either gets the basics rights or use the rules/format that is posted here. Some get it right, alot don't.

I'm also not hating on MLG, but I'm also not going to suck their dick because they ran a great tournament because that's their business. All I want is for SCV to blow up which is why I want them to fix those minor issues that shouldn't have been issues in the first place if not for the fact that they want to run things their way which conflicts with what the community is used to. You can't say that you want to work with the community, then do the opposite.

I won't even get into the stream problems since that's been thoroughly criticized by alot of people.

 

Kayane and Keev played in Winners 5. Still doesn't change the fact that they shouldn't have been in the same side of a 128 man bracket if not for their "random" seeding.

I also have to seriously disagree with the community tournaments being half assed, because if this was the case, then I wouldn't be at those tournaments to begin with, nor would alot of people as far as SC is concerned, nor would France have flown over to compete in the past two NECs. Even Justin Wong took notice of how things were ran.

https://twitter.com/#!/JWonggg/status/171606843796365312

I also don't have low expectations. I have the expectation that the tournaments that I go to either gets the basics rights or use the rules/format that is posted here. Some get it right, alot don't.

I'm also not hating on MLG, but I'm also not going to suck their dick because they ran a great tournament because that's their business. All I want is for SCV to blow up which is why I want them to fix those minor issues that shouldn't have been issues in the first place if not for the fact that they want to run things their way which conflicts with what the community is used to. You can't say that you want to work with the community, then do the opposite.

I won't even get into the stream problems since that's been thoroughly criticized by alot of people.

Yea right dude. Those GVN tournaments are bad. It's just that you are used to and don't mind tournaments running hours upon hours behind the scheduled time. Like I said, low expectations. Show me one of your majors, (or any major at that) that runs a tournament better than MLG, then maybe some of these complaints about MLG will be warranted. I'm not even talking about the region seeding or rule mistake because we are all on the same page with that. I'm talking about people within this community that didn't even want SC5 in MLG before it was even announced. Also the people who complained about WCG Fighter Club years ago, ultimately getting SC5 removed from future events. People already had this preemptive hate for MLG, so why should these peoples opinions about MLG even matter?

Only reason I still go to GVN and NEC is because I genuinely like going to Philly. I have friends in philly that I like to hang with before the tournament weekend.

I guess my point is that people are complaining about something when their own shit stinks.

 

funked: I would presume by the discussion it was all right, lol.

 

I guess my point is that people are complaining about something when their own shit stinks.

I do remember your dissatisfaction at NEC last time we were both there together for a number of reasons you listed but, I'm gonna toot my own horn a little here, and stick up for others too:

When I'm not running ridiculous experimental formats like 64 man round robins, I can bang out a comparably sized major in 3-4 hours, on a SCHEDULE. Anyone at GameUnicon can tell you so, including most of the cream of who went to MLG, including thugish, RTD and company.

The point isn't so much that I can do it so much as that its possible and does happen. So while some community tournaments are in fact, a logistical mess, not all of them are. There are plenty of comparable TO's out there who do it as well or better.

 

I do remember your dissatisfaction at NEC last time we were both there together for a number of reasons you listed but, I'm gonna toot my own horn a little here, and stick up for others too:

When I'm not running ridiculous experimental formats like 64 man round robins, I can bang out a comparably sized major in 3-4 hours, on a SCHEDULE. Anyone at GameUnicon can tell you so, including most of the cream of who went to MLG, including thugish, RTD and company.

The point isn't so much that I can do it so much as that its possible and does happen. So while some community tournaments are in fact, a logistical mess, not all of them are. There are plenty of comparable TO's out there who do it as well or better.

You need to teach these other majors how it's done.

 

I'm also "firmly" in the camp that MLG was the best tournament I have ever been to as someone who "attended" for all the exact same reasons that BlackMambaMoan posted on the first page word for word. Can't remember the last tournament I been to where I felt free to move around because the shit was run on time. Numerous stations etc.

As the viewer I can't speak but then again that's why people should get their ass of the couch and go. Also everyone had a 15 min DQ time limit which is beyond fair even people such as DK who we notified wasn't there.

I wanna talk about the game system that was discussed in this podcast about step, backstep, and the guard burst system as its refreshing to hear other people have the same issues as me about it but I'm going to assume once again despite the fact that its even talked about in this podcast someone is gonna say some dumb shit about complaining or whatever. So what do I do... ah fuck it i'll just stick to the best tournament ever from the perspective of someone who was there and has been to numerous tournaments.

 

Yea right dude. Those GVN tournaments are bad. It's just that you are used to and don't mind tournaments running hours upon hours behind the scheduled time. Like I said, low expectations. Show me one of your majors, (or any major at that) that runs a tournament better than MLG, then maybe some of these complaints about MLG will be warranted. I'm not even talking about the region seeding or rule mistake because we are all on the same page with that. I'm talking about people within this community that didn't even want SC5 in MLG before it was even announced. Also the people who complained about WCG Fighter Club years ago, ultimately getting SC5 removed from future events. People already had this preemptive hate for MLG, so why should these peoples opinions about MLG even matter?

Only reason I still go to GVN and NEC is because I genuinely like going to Philly. I have friends in philly that I like to hang with before the tournament weekend.

I guess my point is that people are complaining about something when their own shit stinks.

I been to tournaments that were still running pools at 3AM. That's something I won't tolerate.

All I want is SCV to blow up. I was one of the first ones talking about SCV in eSports and glad that people have the opportunity to compete for so much money. So is it too much to ask for simple shit like region seeding and to not put Starcraft rules into the SCV tournament?

And the only reason why I am bringing those issues up is because I had people tell me that MLG Columbus was one of the best if not the best tournament that they've been to. I wouldn't be saying anything if I didn't want the best for SCV at MLG.

 

Yeah, I'm just going to go ahead and say that. MLGs was leagues ahead of anything I've been to. It was actually crazy that the staff was barely needed for anything on the day of the tournament...but, then again, that comes with good preplanning. It was almost like, when the players got there, everything was already where it needed to be for us. I really wish more of the TOs could have been there.

 

Hard to merge posts but I also want to say, especially after being to so many tournaments where SC has been the redheaded step child, it's crazy MLG is getting shit for some of this stuff

 

This tournament was amazing. I am so thankful I was able to attend. MLG knows how to run tournaments and I have zero complaints in my experience. Esom had gotten DQ'd one game in my match for being 15 mins late to our match, but the ref gave me the choice of letting it slide, so I did.

One suggestion I'd make would be to have back to back stations to eliminate sitting side by side allowing players to listen to joystick users inputs. I've been so far out of the tournament scene with playing at home, that I had forgotten how easy it was to listen to someones inputs and be ready to react. When I was playing Kayane and Keev for example (since they both use joysticks), it was so easy to tell when they were about to attack that it felt like an unfair advantage. MLG has plenty of resources to make this happen and they already do this with SC2 so it should be something easy for them to set up.

Another suggestion I'd make is for the spectator area's speakers to be sync'd up with the tournament area so that people watching the matches happening on the stage would hear their matches being called. That seemed to be a problem with people being late in reporting for their match.

 

MLG was the best tournament period despite some hitches in seeding or stage rules. To complain about anything if you weren't there is fucking stupid period. You shouldn't even have a voice on the matter imo. If MLG continues to run the game in its circuit the community should be grateful especially when it comes to Calibur in a 2d gaming world.

 

MLG was the best tournament period despite some hitches in seeding or stage rules. To complain about anything if you weren't there is fucking stupid period. You shouldn't even have a voice on the matter imo. If MLG continues to run the game in its circuit the community should be grateful especially when it comes to Calibur in a 2d gaming world.

So the tournament had some hitches, but I shouldn't say anything so that those hitches aren't there to begin with? Do I really need to go all the way to Columbus to realize that loser choose stage is a stupid rule? Do you see how stupid your logic is?

I need to spend hundreds of dollars and take vacation time to go to a MLG event or any other major tournament, and I'm not going to spend that time and money if they are doing something that I don't like.

And again, those hitches you mentioned could have easily not been there if not for the fact that MLG wanted to do things their way and run SCV like its Starcraft.

 

Let me say this again, MLG hires from the community.

 

I stopped reading after page 1 because I have to say this. Fuck seeding. Okay? Its a tournament. Vegeta had to fight Goku in the first round, thats what happens. If you are gonna lose you are gonna lose. Get over your pride and realize that maybe EVERYONE doesn't want to fight Keev until they are in the top 8? Why should one person be treated specially. Fuck regional seeding. Losers are losers, winners are winners no matter where you are from or at. You enter to win, if you lose, it doesn't matter if a no name underdog beats you or a well known players does. So get the fuck over it and grow up people. Fuck seeding. Fair is fair, nothing is unfair about making the 2 people who traveled have to be in the same boat as people who didn't have to travel as far. Grow up.

 

I stopped reading after page 1 because I have to say this. Fuck seeding. Okay? Its a tournament. Vegeta had to fight Goku in the first round, thats what happens. If you are gonna lose you are gonna lose. Get over your pride and realize that maybe EVERYONE doesn't want to fight Keev until they are in the top 8? Why should one person be treated specially. Fuck regional seeding. Losers are losers, winners are winners no matter where you are from or at. You enter to win, if you lose, it doesn't matter if a no name underdog beats you or a well known players does. So get the fuck over it and grow up people. Fuck seeding. Fair is fair, nothing is unfair about making the 2 people who traveled have to be in the same boat as people who didn't have to travel as far. Grow up.

You've never even been to a tournament.

 

Not a Soul Calibur one but I have been to many Counter Strike tournaments, retract your statement.

 

Not a Soul Calibur one but I have been to many Counter Strike tournaments, retract your statement.

You need to stop posting like you know things, the constant state of eyerolling is causing me to need glasses.

 

Not a Soul Calibur one but I have been to many Counter Strike tournaments, retract your statement.

Did CS not have seeding? Or did you just not understand the point of it?

Seeding isn't a bad thing.

 

I've never baked a cake before, but I've operated a stove-top grill before. Principle is basically the same. Let nobody say I can't bake.

Emlarr is a better baker though.