Sp1d3r
Demon Beaver
Enjoy!
NeoRussell Interview
7/10/11
"Can you give me a quick summary about yourself that will act as the "intro" to your interview? This is to let people quickly know who you are and why they should care"
Hey Everyone,
My name is NeoRussell. I recently won a tournament against Toronto's best Soul Calibur players. All I can say is their mad salty right now. I'm sure they will take the title away from me next time.
I've been playing Soul Calibur since part II and have participated in many American tournaments. Placing high on some of them and winning a Chicago tournament back in SC3 days. I have been the main organizer of tournaments in SC and Tekken Toronto. I've probably met most of the Top Players in the early days of SCIV. Not sure who is dominating now though.
I have a website called neorussell.com. Main reason to have a site is to help new players via videos I create for a specific game. I've recently posted my tournament videos in there so check it out.
I am also the founder of TorontoTopTiers.com. It is a site that informs Canada or US for that matter about the latest happening in fighting game news. We also organize tournaments for most popular fighting games. The last one being Resurrection Omega where most of you probably saw my recent win. If not, it is recorded and can be found in youtube.com/torontotoptiers
1. At first I was going to do a standard interview with you, but honestly, I’d like to know your thoughts on the last tournament you won, and, even though you hadn’t played Soul Calibur for so long, why do you think you still ended up winning?
Thoughts on the last tournament. Honestly, I didn't think I would win. The tournament had 4 out of the 5 top tier players in Soul Calibur. I thought to myself, i'm not gonna win this tournament, might as well have fun in the process. A few days before the tournament, I already (playfully) started trashtalking the players. Telling them that if I win this tournament, they will never hear the end of it. It's my way of boosting their SC Skills but unfortunately for them, they didn't think they needed to practice against me.
How did I win, you ask? Simple, I use the same tricks i've used 2 years ago. If you watch my matches again, I was just as tricky as I ever was. There are so many things I did that people were just not prepared for but should have been. I'm sure the Toronto Players will be ready next time, but in my honest opinion, you (anybody) as a competitive player should not be taking anyone lightly. I believe that the Toronto Players did that and was utterly defeated. I don't want to say they suck at Soul Calibur cause they are good. They basically just took me too lightly. They were too busy practicing against each other that they didn't realize that i've won many tournaments back in the day. That counts SC2, SC3 and now SCIV. I guess I just have more experience than them and that's what made me win in the long run.
2. How are you able to juggle so many different games at once and remain competitive? Is there any sort of special preparation that you have to do?
The list of games I play are SSFIV (Claw), MvC3 (Team DAD), Tekken (Pau/Kum), SCIV (YOS), MK (Kit/Mil) and BBCS2 (Tsu/Mak). You'll probably see some youtube matches if you look hard enough.
I don't really do much in terms of practice but I do learn the system of a game before going further.
Without learning the system, I'll just be a fisherman without a hook.
My practice in gaming is basically, do the same combos 100 times then go to Arcade Mode, set rounds to 5, set difficulty to HELL and finish.
That is the best way to learn against other characters of the game as well. Sure people will say that Human is different from CPU but I can actually say that they still use the same move. Not the same strategy but the same move. Atleast, i would know where to sidestep or block or eat the hit and all that.
I meet up with Casual gamers once or twice a week to test out new combos or strategies I come up with in Practice or Arcade Mode.
Pretty much the jitz of how I practice and play. I'm probably ok with all of the games I play because I have the experience and common sense in terms of playing fighting games.
NeoRussell's Learn Chart with a new game:
-Learn the system
-Pick a character
-Know their moves and combos
-Beat Arcade Mode in ultra hard super duper hell difficulty
-Try them out with Casual players
-Participate in Tournaments
-Rinse repeat
3. What factors made you stop playing Soul Calibur?
The "inevitable" (hihi for people who get it) question of why people quit SC or in this case SCIV.
Two years ago, it's always been the same winners. STD, RTD, Mick, DreamKiller, Omega, and Thuggish Pond.
Most of those winners were AMY players. *big sigh* It just became an AMY tournament and probably killed the hype of most players.
Around that time, SSFIV and Tekken 6 came out. Maybe BlazBlue contributed a bit of it as well.
A few more months passed and people realized that it's hard to revive an SC scene unless there's big pot involved.
So all the good players vanished leaving their mark in the SC World.
For me personally, there were other games that I found interesting. I really had nothing else to prove in the SC community. Me, STD, Oofmatic of Toronto have made our mark in International SC gaming and that was enough. I stayed away from running SCIV tournaments after that. Disappeared from the SC Community for awhile making my mark in SFIV, BB, and Tekken. 2 years later, I wanted SCIV to be streamed so I added them TTT's last Tournament. It was a huge success and because of that, I will add them for future tournaments.
4. What is your first memory of playing a fighting game? What made the genre so powerful for you?
First memory of playing a fighting game was in Philippines in a local arcade. My first fighting game was SFII. I used Vega (Claw). I just kept doing Izuna Drop. The CPU was really stupid back in those days.
First real competition was going to a real live arcade where I used the same trick and failed horribly. Arcade was expensive in my country so I couldn't spend much. I just watched.
Competition and being the best is the only thing that got me hooked.
I wanted to be that guy that people feared when he comes in.
I wanted to be that guy that people put quarters in to beat.
I like the attention basically. I'm an attention whore LOL!
People probably know that via neorussell.com and my tutorial videos.
5. Can you tell us what it's like to be in tournaments?
My tournament gameplay is always rushed IMO. Probably because i'm most of the time directing the event. Gameplay wise, I got 10 years experience on me versus the new breeds. Doesn't mean I would play better though. Just means, I know what to expect in tournaments.
I expect players to know what they are doing. If they don't, they will lost easily.
I play too many different players and some of them act differently as well. Some hide behind headphones. Some mask it by looking serious. Some just looks too nervous to remember how to win. Me per say, I just play the game. I would usually crack jokes in the beginning of the match to calm down the player. People shouldn't be scared when they face a well-known player. That person should try their hardest to beat them and get a name for themselves. That's what being in the tournament is all about.
If I win a match, I smile and just try to win one more. When I win, If I know the guy, i'll act like an ass and say you suck (he knows i'm joking). If I don't know the guy, I just shake his hands and move on. No need to piss off somebody you don't know well.
If I lose a match, I don't believe in just clicking "REMATCH" right away. I give myself time to think and see what works. If needed, I request a change of stage to reset the mood.
It's all about staying focused at the challenge presented to you. The challenge is to pass this player.
Think about what you do wrong and what you do right. Always be ahead of yourself. You just did a move but you should already have a prepared move on how he reacts. Think a move ahead all the time. It pays off.
6. How do we defeat you?
Well, this question is easy to answer. If your not AWESOME, you can't beat me. You need that AWESOME factor. Not a lot of people have it.
You have to be awesome inside and outside gaming. I get in yo head fools. Maybe I can rub some awesomeness around for the people who loses to me. It might help.
In all seriousness. There really is no trick in beating me.
If you can adapt to my playstyle (same in every game), then you can beat me easily. You have to think 2 steps ahead of what i'm doing cause i'm already doing the same against the opponent. I know a lot about the systems I play so make sure you got the same or sub par knowledge. You can't be thinking about the game's system in matches. Your passed that and being in a tournament states you are ready. Of course, you lose but learn from the mistakes you do. That's why we record matches.
I personally do not own SCIV anymore so if I win again, Toronto will get trolled by our American friends. The next tournament will be TTT School Rumble. I will be showcasing SCIV Top 4 in that tournament. The competition is stacked this time around since I made it known to STD and Sownemesis about my win. Will NeoRussell win the next tourny? Is his Awesome Factor enough to scum another win? July 16th, justin.tv/torontotoptiers
(sorry if I advertise the tourny but I figured people would want to watch it.)
Pocky-Yoshi asks:
"Where ever you go, do you dream a whole lot before trying to make it happen? In terms of placing high in tourneys or what not."
It's funny you say Dream actually. In every tournament that I know I can't win (SSFIV, MvC3 and BB), I create a goal. That goal is to shatter dreams.
Let me explain. Basically, I set myself up to beat the people that brag or think they can win the tournament easily. I've done this many times. I am in a tournament to "Shatter Dreams".
I don't really hope much for games I know people are better at than me. That just means they put more time in the game.
It is a well deserved win on their end.
NeoRussell
"Shattering Dreams Since 2001"
