Alright, it is time for some epic shout-outs, props, back-pattings and various other forms of acknowledging general awesomeness.
Idlemind, Hackermikeface, Alicia and the various TO's who made the tournament feasible: The tournament may have hit a brief snag in the middle of the day saturday, but you guys quickly fixed that shit, got the tourney moving and, without you guys and your dedication to serving the community, we'd not only would have never finished, we never would have even HAD the tournament.
Alright, let's get props to the placers out of the way
Woahhzz: I TOLD you, mothafucka, I *told* you. And not just you, I've been telling people for weeks that you would take top 2, if not win the whole thing. You are a tiny asian dynamo. You will crush all who oppose you beneath your kind, modest, non-threatening fist. I'm proud of you. You are what makes philly look like we don't suck, haha. So you better keep it up =D
Malek: I've often referred to you as a French cyborg programmed to destroy Americans. You're not doing much to counter my assertion. You did *amazingly* well. We didn't talk much, but you seemed like a really nice guy. I will always remember our set, where you seemed distracted for the first match and I killed you. And just as I was starting to get my confidence back, like, "Hey, maybe I can do this afterall", you decided to flip on your Murder-Mo-Tron switch and you then effortlessly killed me 6 straight rounds. Big props
S-U: Omar, you're a talented motherfucker and big ups on getting third. Just don't get too salty about what happened at FSAK post tourney, and come back hard at NEC
Oofmatic: You canadian-living, Vader-using, talented mother-fucker. My sodium levels are still high in that thing we did on stream. You know, the thing where we had controllers in our hands and characters on the screen moved. I won't refer to it as a match, because a match implies there was competition. That was rape in a galaxy far, far away. Kudos on 4th, you earned it.
Mick: If I heard correctly, you didn't play too much SC3 and only started playing SC4 a month ago, and you came in, dominated, and took 5th. You really live up to your hype. It was a pleasure playing you.
Thugish/Dreamkiller: I lump you together due to your tied record, mutual use of Amy, and overall levels of huggability. Good stuff, people, good stuff. And yes, Max, I know I attack a lot. Thanks for reminding me....again =D
Krayzie: You may be entirely impossible to dislike. You are one of the friendliest people I've ever met, you play like a beast that has just finished eating the heart of another beast, gaining its power. And yet, you still manage to be totally supportive and approachable. I look forward very much to meeting you again
Ramon: I heard you had epic sets before and after the tourney, and you obviously didn't do to poorly in tourney, either. Props on top 10. See you at Jaxel's.
Now, onto the others, in no particular order
Xeph/Partisan: It was great meeting you both, you're good players and good people. I mention you both together because you might have both beaten me if you hadn't made the same mistake: don't switch to cass against me, haha. She's a bad match for Voldo, but she's a *great* match for Sporko. Xeph, I look forward to seeing you when you move to the Northeast
LostProvidence: I told you this already, but you have made so much progress over the past few months. You went from "ok" to "pretty damn good" to "better than me" in the span of, what? 4 months? You've got a lot of potential to go far and your unwarranted tourney nerves are the only thing that kept you from taking the set against me. You'll do much better at the next few tourneys, I'm positive.
Hajime/Kikaleek/Y-Disciple/JustKill: You Yoshi's are a scourge on my existence, haha. It was great meeting you, Hajime and Y-Disciple. I look forward to playing you both again in the future, if possible. Kikaleek, like you said, we go back and forth so watch yourself next time, haha. And JustKill, it was nice spending the weekend with you, and the offer to come down and session always stands.
Goofus/ARU: Great job on repping Voldo, guys. You both gave me great 2-1 sets where I barely managed to pull victory out of my ass. Goofus, I enjoyed our occassional excursions with JustKill, and ARU: I begrudgingly grant you bonus props, for placing one spot higher than me and technically being the highest ranked Voldo there. Hope to see you again at a future tournament.
Bibulus: You get special friend-props just for being one awesome mama-jama.
Jian: I know the asian wedding gods smiled upon me, but I'm still disappointed you didn't get to finish out the tourney, as I'm sure you'd have placed very well, almost certainly higher than I did. We will make amends regarding not playing at FSAK with a new, epic no pants challenge at the Jaxeldome.
Hawkeye: You, sir, impressed the hell out of me. You did really well, and managed to beat all of the Voldo's with Taki, a match that has to be heavily in Voldo's favor. I look forward to seeing more of you in future tourneys.
Hates: Your Cervy was impressive as I imagined it would be, and you got me pretty damn good in tourney. It was a blast seeing you again. Thanks for the cigarettes on Sunday, I'll try and repay the favor at some future event.
Lasercakes: We didn't get to play, and I'm not even sure if we spoke, but with a name like Lasercakes, you have my vote of support.
The smokers out back, Lobo, Scha, GreatOne, JRWR7, Neo and others: I had as many good times out in back of the store as I did inside actually playing. I had good times, even with the people I didn't play. It was great meeting you all, and as far JR, who I obviously know, seeing you take that match on Oofmatic made my day. And lobo, it was great sharing that knob, haha.
Suphy: You were my first set of the entire tournament, but we barely said two words to each other after that. Regardless, it was a pleasure playing you. Not *quite* as much of a pleasure getting rung out on the raft 3 times by Talim shenanigans, heh.
Teflon: I'm not going to lie, before our set I had only seen some of your stream sets (which apparently took place with a broken controller, I found out later). I took you lightly, and I came pretty damn close to paying for my hubris. You surprised me, in a good way when we played. I hope to play you again.
RTD: You're a nice guy and a legend in the community, and our set was literally as close as it could be. One hit, brotha, one hit, haha. Until next time =D
Surione: You have gotta have one of the most positive attitudes of any person I've ever met. You have a bad run, and what is your reaction? Joy for having played, and determination to get better without any of the saltiness or negative self defeatist crap a lot of players (myself included) sometimes (or often) feel. If you keep that attitude, I have faith you can do well in the future.
Destishenanimanloveizish: It was nice playing/meeting you, man. You seemed really happy go lucky, haha. Like you cheer up the people around you or something, heh.
Shinji, Swordlord: You were both pretty quiet dudes, but you were also both really nice, welcoming people. My victories in these sets surprised me, Amy is one of my mortal enemies, but I was on against Amy for FSAK for some reason. Hopefully you two can make it out again and try and get your revenge.
Serge: Told you I'd get my revenge, brotha. For real, though, you are just about the funniest, most likable, dick-talkingest guy I know. It had been way too long since we got our man-hug on, heh. Look forward to seeing you at the jaxeldome.
Piggy: I know you haven't played in forever, so coming up there and supporting the community really meant a lot. Thanks a ton.
Page: We barely talked, but everybody who mentioned you told me you were a really funny guy, and your manliness levels are automatically elevated 380% for playing Rock in the regular tourney.
Eli: All I heard all weekend was how well you had been doing, and I knew playing you would be difficult, even if I was familiar with Ivy. Accidentally smacking myself in the face with my controller will remain one of the funniest moments at FSAK for me, haha. At the rate you've been growing as a player, next time we meet I'm sure you'll make me your bitch.
Jer: Besides the people I drove up there with me, you were the first calibur player I ran up to in there. Had a blast eating crappy pizza with you, watching a little ocean's 11 and beating another Amy in set. I hate Amy so much that it hurts, haha. Still, you were my first match Sunday morning and you had me worried as hell, haha. You came really close. Until next time, m'friend.
Ninjafox: I didn't really get to speak to you much, but you seemed like a cool guy. If I had any advice to give you at all, it's focus on siegfried over Raph, haha. Hope to see you again.
Mikosu, Bubbles: Miko, great seeing you again, as always. Bubbles, we didn't get to talk much but it was nice to meet you. And, to both of you, don't be chumps and drop next time ;p
Shenrei, Gazer, Fuzzie, Herve and all the other people I didn't get a chance to play: It was a shame we didn't get to have matches, and I barely got to talk to any of you, but hopefully we'll rectify this if we ever meet again.
Krit: It was a pleasure meeting you and having you come to my session the Thursday before FSAK to meet Chuck the Motha-Fuckin' Landslide. Also, bonus props for Chuck for getting me HYPE. Krit, sorry you weren't feeling well Saturday night, you were probably the only person other than Jian who had a legit excuse for dropping so there are no grudges =D You also definitely added to the cartrip home, along with 350Z and JJJ
My boys from philly/S Jersey, Malice, JJJ, 350z, Zero, Khent and Rigel: Malice, man, we didn't get to play but I heard you got your commentatin' on for the stream, so that was probably gold. Zero, dude, nobody crushed me worse than you did other than Oofmatic. I'm pretty sure you're the only person other than Oof to 6-0 me in tourney, so kudos on that *and* on placing top 20 with Talim. JJJ, your confidence may have wavered back and forth but *nobody* can take your victories over Ramon, DK, Oof and RTD from you. You earned that, and your spot in the top 20. 350z, I know you weren't happy with your performance, but you and JJJ really made the entire trip more enjoyable for me. You made the drive up there and back from there as fun as the tournament itself, and I had a really great time. Khent, I know you didn't get a chance to play in the main tournament but you did a great job supporting the community and you were a huge help as a TO, as was Rigel.
Ok guys, I know that was SUPER long but for an event as UTTERLY epic as FSAK, I could NOT in good conscience half-ass it.
I'm really sorry if I forgot anybody, there were well over 60 people there and I did my best to remember everybody.
I had one of the most amazing times ever, and LostProvidence was right, this felt more like a family reunion than a tournament. I hope to see as many of you as I can at NEC and future events.
