I came to Final Round XIII with a promise I made to PolishMafia. “Both of you better place.” he said. Kind of wasn’t a promise more of a “I’m lending you fucking $80 it better not be a waste” sort of thing. We both kind of did that. Justin got 7th in singles and my team got 3rd in Teams so I guess we did both place. (Dave your money is totally getting paid back on Saturday.) However, I do feel my accomplishments are diminished because I didn’t do it by myself. It was basically Trung who got us to 3rd place by beating the Koreans and Clint. So saying I took 3rd is kind of a backhanded compliment. I did OCV team SoVa which consisted of Blackula, Ryry, and SMP. That was good but not good enough to claim I deserved 3rd in teams. My singles performance contained my first real name win in a tournament. Filthy Rich, two-time EVO placer, was the man I was able to beat. It was a good win and one that made me feel like I really accomplished something. Filthy isn’t that great at Tekken 6 but he’s good enough to say, “Yeah, I beat THAT guy.” So that was good but I lost my next two games tying for 33rd. 33rd is a long way from placing. Luck wasn’t on my side either when I landed in the “Hell” portion of the “Bracket of Death”. My loss right after Filthy to Trung my partner is what eats me up. It was a close match and he was definitely a good player who adapted very fast but still I could’ve had that match. I just needed to be more aggressive. My Lil’Majin match I have no excuse for. I got beat clean. He got maybe one launcher on me. Didn’t matter though, he threw the crap out of me. 1+2 and GS mix up was so good I couldn’t predict which was which. A lot of rounds were close but I was unable to close it out. If I ever play him again I’m going to keep him honest with some hop kicks. I let him get in and throw me too easily. But really that’s just a starting point to what I would need to do to beat him. He was very solid all around.

Lingmassacre would tell you I think overall that he did well at this tournament. He took 7th in singles and was a pixel or two away from taking 5th. Justin beat down Gandido and out played FightingGM. He defeated Grimmy, Turk, and NeoX in money matches. Not too bad of a weekend. However Lingmassacre’s weekend was not all good. He lost many close matches which if he won could have changed everything. His loses to Clint and BloodHawk in regionals, and Knee and Pokchop in singles, noticeably were troubling to him. Justin shouldn’t beat himself up though. His improvement since NEC has been tremendous and he placed again at another major tournament. If he keeps training and keeps progressing there is no reason why he can’t beat any top player.

After that match I didn’t play at all for 6 hours until I finally was able to money match the man who beat Zzy at FRXII, Me_RED_ATL. I noticed immediately that he was not the same kind of King player as Majin. He relied a lot more on poking and defense but luckily I’m used to that style of King play. I defeated RED 3-0 for $10. It was my first successful money match ever. My previous money matches, Bronson and Brian H where done to entice players to come to Upstate or to test myself against high level competition. Money-matching RED was about 2 things, seeing if I could hang with a great player and showing up Zzy. A 3-0 was pretty damn decisive. RED may not be as great in this game as he was in DR but it doesn’t change the fact he OCV’ed people in the regional team tourney this year as well as did well in the singles tournament. I wanted to get more money matches in but Korean BBQ and Justin’s ‘I’m going to play 3 money matches now even though all the stations are full, ok let’s wait,’ made it so by the time I was done the stations were being taken down. NeoX, Turk, Sayco, Trung, and Big Boi, you guys got lucky, lol.

Anyway I don’t know if I progressed or stayed the same. I mean I beat a couple of good players this time out but I still feel like my loses to Knee, GM, Trung, and Majin were proof of me not progressing. I need to continue to improve. We shall see what the future holds but I know one thing, I’ve got to concentrate on for EVO coming up in three months. Come EVO-time it’s all in, I’m either going to win big or go out bad. So let’s go already, I want to play some more.

Strida Jin,

“Yo man, I know we only met at NEC, but I just want you to know that it takes a real man to go and fight for your country. I wish you nothing but the best throughout your journey. Thanks for sending us videos from Japan when Tekken 6 first came out. The US needs as much help as possible so we can all one day step up and take down top players from Korea and Japan. May God bless you in the Middle East. Keep your head up and come back soon. “

-Spero Gin, Long Island, NY

“I remember him playing FightingGM at the last Rumble in the Tundra, and WOW was it an amazing match!  Right down to the last pixel, and he was the only person who even came close to beating GM all tournament. It was really impressive.  Best of luck Brandon, I know Upstate will miss you.”

-Joey Fury, Buffalo, NY

“Good luck and thanks for everything you’re doing.  See you at the Welcome Back Stridajin tournament”

-Sean Paul Wall-Street Fighter Two For Tuesdays With Morrie Povich, Cortland, NY

“Thanks for whooping my butt in Tekken at the arcade and tournament,  hopefully I can do a little better when you get back, be safe.”

- Wicked Cake, Oswego, NY

“Well I been asked to write something for Brandon aka Stridajin, I could go down the most basic route  and stay I will miss you and good playing with you. I could say that but it be the shortest thing ever haha. But truth be told your a chicken eating koolade drinking Asian women loving big lipped person, who bought something new to upstate. I thank  you for all the good times and training. And the jokes.. No way in hell we can replace wut u bought to us.. And I won’t even try.The stories and tales you told us about your overseas tekken  and evo trips where good. Your skill in the game helped us improved ours. I thank you for everything you to help us.. Shit thank you for helping me with my game. I wish you
luck and I know you will be fine. Good luck brother man. Much love”

- Damus, Syracuse, NY

“Alas, we say our fond send-offs to Brandon. It has been incredibly nice to talk shop with someone who has been in the touranment scene even longer than I have. And to my chagrin, knowing that we’ve been to some of the same tournaments without ever meeting. Thank you Brandon for your tourney ferrying, character practice, and support of upstate. *hearts* ^^ no homo.”

-Lingmassacre, Ithaca, NY

“Strida, good luck in Afghanistan.  You are a true American hero.  Thanks for always sharing your knowledge when you are around and you a straight up good guy.  Welcome home tournament when you come back!”

-Jhonda, Fayetteville, NY

“Even though I didn’t know you that well- was always fun playing SF4 casuals with… I learned a lot about how to be wily with Zangief b/c of you lol. I wish you good fortune out there overseas and may you return safely ”

- Tainted Eternity, Syracuse, NY

“Brandon you’ve been a nice touch to the community of Upstate NY since you’ve arrived and you’ve repped us well at all tournaments outta state. I wish you the best in all you travels.”

- Phunnykidd, Ithaca, NY

“When I first saw Brandon I had no idea who he was. I honestly thought, alright, some Julia scrub I can beast on. He then proceeded to whoop me after not playing DR in god knows how long. Afterwards I found out who he actually was, for some reason I was expecting Stridajin to be a little asian dude (stereotypes ftw). All in all, Brandon has continued to deliver whoopins to me tourney after tourney, without me ever even earning the right to get whooped by Bruce. Brandon is a solid Tekken player, and a really cool guy. I want to thank him for becoming a part of our scene, and I hope he succeeds in all of his future endeavors. Stay safe man, and if shit gets hairy, just friggen hopkick!”

- Ofdp?, Buffalo, NY

“Good luck, stay safe, and don’t tech ”

- Bloodhawk, NYC

“Best Regards and good luck over there Brandon!”

- Devin OH!, Auburn, NY

“Brandon, i want to wish you the best out there! I definitely respect you representing and protecting our country for everything it stands for. Good luck man!”

- Blackheart, Syracuse, NY

“My best wishes are with you  for your safe return”

- Jinmaster,  Detroit, MI

“Get home safe brah!”

- The Game, NYC

“A big regret of minr as a CNY Tekken player is not having gotten to know Brandon. Really cool guy, he puts up with Team Cortland shenanigans, which isn’t easy.  Thanks for you service, stay safe brother.”

- Ben111, Cortland, NY

“Brandon is a real cool dude.  I’m glad I had the chance to get to know him and wish him well in the army. Much respect.”

- gl0ry, New Hartford, NY

“Good luck and keep playing fighting games!  There’s more than Modern Warefare 2 out there!”

- dsro,  Fulton, NY

” I remember the first time I met Brandon, Tony (ZTS) was busting out sterotypes and I was amazed that people still got together to play fighting games in CNY.  I watched him own face in SF4 and seamlessly transition into Tekken 6 and go on a 7 game tear.  It was amazing to me that someone could be at that level in multiple platforms.  He came over to my house a few times on game nights and crashed there hammering on Damus in T6 until 4am while everyone else was asleep.  That kind of dedication to the hobby/scene is impressive, and I know he is going to display that kind of dedication abroad fighting for our country,  thanks Brandon.

- NickPSI, Syracuse, NY

“I remember the first time I ever heard of Ja’Barndon aka StridaJin. Tekken 6 had just come out in Japan and there was some lucky Marine stationed in Okinawa and living the sweet life uploading videos of Tekken 6. I knew he was black because the way he talked,  I could only imagine what this guy was like, and my imagination as many of you know is pretty crazy. I never thought I would ever get to meet this guy but life is weird like that. Somehow someway he ended up getting stationed at Fort Drum and then became part of the community. Honestly I didn’t think he’d show up that much when I heard he was around Upstate. There he was though, one day he showed up at some random Cyberstation tournament with a freakin old ass Namco PS1 stick, you know the nasty gray one with yellow buttons. I remember that tournament well because it was the only tournament where I only played King. Man that has been like a year exactly hasn’t it because Kyle was getting ready for his money match with Red. Well I bodied that fool Ja’Brandon with King and proceeded to get ass raped by Joey Fury. I noticed something though when I was Gaint Swinging Ja’Brandon all around Cyberstation. This was a pretty cool dude. He was nothing like I imagined and unbelievably chill. He wasn’t too black, wasn’t too white, he’s just right.(PolishMafia Quote) You could joke with him, have an in depth discussion with him, or just shoot the shit. He is one of the funnest guys to play against too. Never has a player watching match known what you SHOULD have done like Ja’Brandon too. Classic quotes like “I told you!”, “Yessss!”, and “No. Not like that!” will live on in Upstate infamy. Ja’Brandon has always been around too ever since he showed up in Upstate. He goes to all the tournaments he can and has been nothing but a positive to the community. I can’t believe it’s only been a year. It is also hard to believee that this one year may be the only time I ever get to see him. Ja’Brandon I’m gonna miss you in a totally non-gay platonic way. So as the cakes said, Farewell, Only Fight at Night, and Don’t Die Brandon.

PS: I know you only repair shit you pussy. Come back for EVO.”

- Zero the Shadow, Syracuse, NY

Brandon I want to thank you personally,  for enriching my life, as well as the others around you.  I’m very great-full to you for teaching me how to play Blazeblue,  then Street Fighter 4,  and then Tekken 6.  Your knowledge is impressive to say the least, but your application of that is what truly amazes. More than all that you’ve been a good friend, which in my book is most important.  So thanks for the jokes,  the combos,  and all the random tournaments, and know you have absolutely influenced  my life.  Please take that with you as you fight for our country,  be brave, be safe, and most importantly come back in one piece.   Always know you have a home in Upstate.

To my good friend,

Brandon Lloyd

P.S.  you owe me a signed copy of twin galaxy record book!

-Zzy, Kyle Sheridan, Ithaca, NY

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the dashing one in the photo.

I have two names. I have a name that I’m addressed by at work and at home, and a name that I’m known by amongst the Tekken community. Along with these two names are two completely different social circles, personas, circadian rhythms, etc. Most of the time, these two identities happily coexist. I am both Justin and Lingmassacre.

Tekken is a different spice of life for me, and I’ve enjoyed all ten years that I’ve been tournament active. The people I’ve met, the places I’ve been, the stories I can tell, all occupy a fuzzy place in my memory. Tekken has changed me, and I’m stronger for it. But Tekken is, and must always be, a distant second to the rest of my life. Currently, I am in the fourth year of a doctoral program in physical chemistry. I also have been able to maintain a healthy relationship with the woman I love for seven years. The question I’m trying to appropriately frame is, how does one balance life and Tekken?

Let us first examine the issue. Video games are becoming more accepted in the culture, and generate yearly revenues comparable to the motion picture industry. The median age of video game players has continuously increased in the last 35 years. We are among the first generation in all of history to enjoy video games as a hobby well in to our thirties. We are getting an education, getting jobs, getting married, and we are having kids.

Other than maintaining a family, getting an education is more important than anything else in one’s lifetime. Then it’s a no brainer to say that one should be studying for their exams than studying frame data. While in school, there might be something that you really enjoy learning about. Make it a passion! But you can’t study hardcore-24/7-Chinese style or you’ll reach midlife and burn out. Nights and weekends out with friends are supposed to be an adventure, especially in college! Party hard, party harder, study hardest.

When it comes to work, my dad had a saying that holds especially true. “90% of success is showing up.” So show up! Work a full day, every day. It’s an ideal to aspire to (even though the best of us occasionally cheat). Be good at what you do. And who knows, maybe Tekken can help in ways that aren’t expected. In my line of work I need a large amount of dexterity. Not to mention the social skills that an introverted nerd like me acquired by getting to know hundreds of people around the country. Connections are quite the valuable asset in life.

Balancing Tekken and romantic life is tricky, especially if your girlfriend hates Tekken (which mine does). If you’ve ever seen the movie Cliffhanger, you know that love is about sacrifice, explosions, and brownies (dig that non sequitor). Sometimes, be with a loved one instead of a tournament. Sometimes, they in turn have to respect that there exists a life outside of them. However, as in some cases I’ve known, significant others may find that they actually like Tekken! It may actually become a shared hobby which brings couples closer together. Just be sure to bake her plenty of brownies… or roses if that’s her thing.

As I said before, nothing is as important in life as maintaining a family. In this regard, I am woefully under-equipped to give valuable information. But as far as I can surmise, Tekken is the equivalent of poker night. Friends over to the house to engage in revelry are an acceptable practice, but if it goes on too often you’ll be broke and homeless. The family men on the scene that I know are incredibly devoted to their families, know their priorities, and are respected for it. In addition, if you take the time to be a dad, there might even be another player in your family. I picture it just like board game night, only with video games.

Baby boomers lived their teenage years amidst the flower power 70’s, became quasi-Buddhist, and still ended up voting republican in old age. Gen X-ers have gone corporate, but they still know how to thrash with Pantera. It’s a new age, and fortunately for us we can bring a bit of our adolescence and make it a part of our culture. And even though it’s likely that we too will one day vote republican, I believe that with a bit of balance we can live decent lives and still play a pretty mean game of Tekken.

Upstate New York came a win away from placing at NEC but couldn’t pull it out. Both Ithaca’s Zzy and Buffalo’s ChaCha were one win away from taking 7th place. This is how things shook down.

Going into NEC Zzy had never preformed that well, always finding himself underachieving. But with Joey Fury unable to attend this year’s NEC due to unforeseen circumstances, Zzy needed to step it up and play the best Tekken he’d played in a long time. And guess what he did. Zzy stormed through the early brackets with ease leading up to a showdown with his mentor and teacher Inkognito. Inkognito was the man who trained Zzy for his FT10 King $100 money match with ME_RED_ATL at Final Round XII last year. Now they would face on the big stage for the first time.

The consensus from the crowd was that Zzy was a free win for Inkognito and the start of the match would have made you think as such. Inkongnito dominated the first round with Zzy breaking almost no throws. However in the second round and third rounds Zzy came back with solid pokes and took the lead. Stomping his feet, the whole room’s attention was drawn to the TV as Zzy would take the first game. The 2nd game was hotly contested with each round coming down to the last few hits. Neither player wanting to make a mistake both playing extremely safe, forgoing damage for consistency. In the end Zzy was able to defeat Inkognito grabbing himself a signature win in possibly the best performance of his Tekken career.

Unfortunately soon after Zzy was sent to losers by the surprisingly good LittleJinBoy. Zzy couldn’t find a rhythm in hid matched with the sporadic Eddy player and eventually lost two close games. Later in losers Zzy would be unable to beat Massachusetts Marauder, GangstaOfLuv, his bid for placing stalling at 9th place. Out of all the people mentioned in the Pre-NEC article, Zzy had the best showing. A few more tweaks to his game and he may be able finally break out and place at a major tournament.

Akazukin Cha-Cha was not listed in the Contenders, The DarkHorses, or The Rest, and yet somehow defied expectation and snatched 9th place with Zzy. Cha-Cha is a former Soul Calibur champion who’s been for the most part a community manager for the Buffalo scene. Cha-Cha has been playing Tekken for a long time but never seemed to break out of the middle of the pack. His previous placings at Tundra III and E-Gamers’ had left no foreshadowing of his performance to come at NEC. Cha-Cha was even closer to landing a spot in Top 8 at NEC than Zzy as he was just one match away from beating his eventually eliminator “The Game”. Cha-Cha’s performance has shown that years of tournament experience of any kind is a valuable commodity during majors. It will be interesting to see if this is the start of a consistent streak for Cha-Cha or a one time thing. Only time will tell.

Dispite Upstate’s efforts the crown for this year’s NEC landed with NYC Fab, the man who recently took NorCal Regionals in November. Fab was sent the to the losers bracket fairly early on by his long time training partner FightingGM but bounced all the way back through the tournament’s losers bracket in dominate fashion. His destruction of BloodHawk in Grand Finals was awe inspiring, for as good as Fab is, no one expected him to just handle BloodHawk as well as he did. Fab has now consecutively taken an East Coast Major and a large West Coast Tournament. Now drawing praise as maybe the best Tekken player in the U.S., he will have his sights set firmly on StrongStyle at the end of January.

“Massachusetts? They play Tekken?” You might have heard that in the past but not after NEC. Masscuisects stormed into NEC with it’s two Super Star players, GangstaOfLuv and Naclam and took the entire Tekken scene by storm. Some people may remember that GangstaOfLuv as just another Steve player from some no name place. A man who “got lucky” cause people “didn’t know the game” when he took second at Warwick’s heavily stacked Vanilla Tekken 6 tournament. Gangsta’s skills have improved drastically since then and the man may be on tab to grab the title of Steve of the EC. Gangsta eliminated many very good players from the tournament like Upstate’s very own Zzy and destroyed one of the favorite to win the tournament FightingGM. The man has an incredibly ability to be clutch as well as he pulled off some amazing come backs during the tournament. It’s rare you see players improve so quickly over such a short amount of time. Everyone will have to keep their eyes out for him as his 4th place at NEC is more than likely a sign of things to come.

Naclam was a player I had never even heard of till this tournament. A Roger Jr. player with great oki and pokes, boasting a solid overall game that lead him all the way to Winner’s Finals. He also defeated FightingGM along the way but couldn’t defeat NYC Fab or BloodHawk. However he was able to best Upstate’s very own Lingmassacre for the title of Jew of America in an epic FT5 for a nickle. Naclam showed everyone how dangerous the little Kangaroo can be at NEC and is no doubt at this very moment cackling as he hordes his Jew Money and the title of Jew of America. However beware Naclam, for the Bear Jew shall seek his revenge in more ways than one.

It’s been about a month now since Tekken 6 was released so let’s see how things have panned out. There have been a total of two Tekken tournaments in Upstate New York since the game’s release with interesting results.

The Contenders:

The first tournament was UpstateFighting’s E-Gamer’s Exchange Launch Tournament. This tournament was very reflective of past Upstate Tournaments during of the DR Era. Zzy and Joey Fury two of Upstate’s perennial Top players showed up big time like they usually do. They again met in Top 3 with Joey getting the best of Zzy again. For those that don’t know Zzy has lost to Joey in tournaments every time they’ve ever met. However Zzy has subsequently bested Joey in money matches after the fact twice.

However at Buffalo’s Rumble In The Tundra III Zzy took a surprising early tumble in the tundra against the players from Canada. He ended up in 17th place. Before the tournament Zzy said he wasn’t worried about the Canadian players and one has to wonder if he took them lightly entering the tournament. Zzy’s 17th place performance is curious. Was it a character match up he didn’t know, was he plane out played, or did nerves just get the best of him? Either way Zzy’s strive for consistency will follow him Philadelphia where he will try to place in the first EC major Tekken 6 tournament. Zzy has never been know to do too well at NEC tournaments but there is no doubt if he plays well he will be on of the favorites from Upstate to place.

Joey has been the most consistent placer in all the Upstate Tournaments so far. A 2nd and E-Gamers’ and 5th at Tundra have already cemented him as the #1 player in Upstate. Joey’s prodigy like skills have always garnered him much successes but this trip to NEC will put his skills to the test. Joey’s consistency will be his greatest strength but he seems to be flip flopping between characters at this time. Once a Bryan player, Joey now can enter a match playing either Bryan, Jack, Law, or Marduk. The questions lingers, is he limiting himself by not dedicating himself to one character? Regardless, Joey has placed at big tournaments before and he will most likely be the favorite to place heading in to NEC.

Right behind Joey is the second most consistent placer in the tournaments so far, PolishMafia, taking 5th at E-Gamers and 4th at Tundra. Polish is the Nina player with no fear. Throwing caution to the wind, it’s more than likely if you’re watching a PolishMafia match, you are going to be entertained. You may slap your head and say “WTF are you doing?!” or you may go “OMFG!” PolishMafia has always been one of Upstate’s best. Though somehow matches of him winning never seem to surface and he never posts on the internet period. He’s a bit of a phantom in that regard. Those who have played him however never forget. At one point EVO2007 runner up SperoGin said “He might be the best Nina I’ve ever seen”. His reckless style can lead him into trouble though and he still doesn’t have a feeling for the changes to most of the cast. He has a record of doing well at NEC in the past, we will see if his years of Tekken experience can lead him to a Top 8 finish this time.

The Dark Horses:

There are two kinds of risks. Calculated Risks, like the ones PolishMafia takes and then there is something we call the DustBowl. Damus Hayden is his own worst enemy and his own greatest ally. Never has a player been so crappy at punishing but never has one been so good at putting people into ridiculous 50/50 situations. Damus would forgo guaranteed damage that would win him a round in favor of a launch punishable tripping low. It’s madness, it is Egypt! The Sun God Ra’s magic flows in this man’s veins. Sometimes he can be so bad, sometimes so good. Damus looked like he was heading for mediocrity at Tundra when he, just like at E-Gamer’s; lost to Big Daddy Kane in the first round of the tournament. However Damus went on a unbelievable streak afterwards, defeating, Eddy Kusanagi, Devil Himself from NJ, and got the luckiest win of his entire career when he beat me(JK Damus good shit.). The magic carried him to Top 8 at Tundra. Damus has been working tirelessly to improve his skills and fix the holes in his game. If he does he could put on another magical run at NEC. Damus Hayden did take 9th at the last Final Round, just outside of Top 8. Damus is one of the Dark Horses for Team Upstate coming into NEC. I’ve got a feeling a lot of people will be dusting themselves off after NEC.

Jorioi95? J. Honda? We just call him Jason. Jason has been playing Tekken for a long time but has never been too serious about it. When Street Fighter IV came out he was one of our best and said he’d be back when Tekken 6 came out but Jason was unable to make it out to E-Gamer’s. However he showed up at Tundra and surprised everyone. Much like Damus, Jason lost in the very first match of the tournament against some scrubby Paul player. It looked bad, REAL BAD! However Jason rebounded storming through losers. taking out Barry, Shinjoker, but lost a nail bitter to Eddy Kusanagi. When Jason calms down and thinks about what he is doing he has the capabilities to do a lot. However he’ll be at a pretty big disadvantage because lots of players from NYC know how to beat Ganryu. Regardless he’s proven he can take out solid competition in a tournament and he’ll be able to carve up anyone who stands there and takes his mix up. He’s another Dark Horse entering NEC, Osoi!

But where you are probably asking is the most dominant player of the DR era in Upstate New York? Well here he is. Lingmassacre has yet to enter an Upstate Tournament due to personal reasons. He’s undeniable got the skills to place anywhere. He placed at NEC last year. However his transition to this game his been a bit rocky and we’ve yet to see how his new Ling will work in a tournament environment. Out of everyone, his transition from DR to BR has no doubt been the hardest. Everyone in Upstate is waiting to see what the mad scientist has been cooking up in his lab. Either way come NEC, it will be a massacre.

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The Rest:

Tournaments have not been kind recently to PhunnyKidd Mark Kiley. He’s been looking solid in casuals though lately. Can he finaly return to the form that lead him to place at Final Round last year? We shall see.

StridaJin is a bit of an enigma. Some say he wins because he uses new characters, some say he’s just solid period. Either way was a poke away from sending FightingGM to losers at Tundra. BUT later got randomed out by a Steve player? With a 4th and a 7th finish he’s the 3rd most consistently placer in Upstate tournaments. Who will he play at NEC and can he prove himself on this big stage?

Ofdp? has unrivaled execution but needs to invest more time into the game. He has been consistent in his placings but they haven’t broken into the Top 8 in any tournament. Unquestionably he’s got the talent to do well at NEC. I think of Zack plays up to his potential at NEC he’ll be like a sun burnt peter, Unbeatable.