East Coast Throwdown Story Summary and Highlights

Although receiving much less number of entrants compared last year, this event featured some of SOULCALIBUR VI’s top players in the USA of which many reached the top 8. The players who will be fighting for the crown are AXL | RichSticks, Lil Spark, DF | Saiyne, AXL | Boom in the loser’s and comprising the winner’s column are AXL | Party Wolf, JJJ, GETV | Sandmand and Defending Champ Linkorz.

The first round of the tournament ended fast with each match-up ended up in a sweep despite showing hype-filled matches. To summarize the said round, Linkorz’ Geralt 2-0’d Sandman’s Azwel and Amy; JJJ’s Amy sweeped Party Wolf’s Kilik; Saiyne’s Ivy edged out whatever Boom throws at him (Voldo and Raphael); and RichSticks’s Maxi won two straight against Lil Spark’s Xianghua and Ivy.

DreamHack Atlanta GF rematch – Saiyne (left) vs. Party Wolf (righ)

The next round in the loser’s then featured some Grand Finals Rematches. First off was a DreamHack Atlanta Grand Finals Rematch between Party Wolf and Saiyne. Backtrack to the said event, Party Wolf’s Seong Mi-Na met and defeated Saiyne’s Ivy during the Grand Finals despite the latter making a respectable reset. Almost a year after, will the same story happen? Let’s see.

Evil Kilik getting the job done

The first set was a very close match between Party Wolf’s Kilik and Saiyne’s Ivy. First round, Party Wolf started to immediately get close to Saiyne’s Ivy. His timed hits and good spacing outpaced his opponent which resulted in him winning the round. Saiyne then took back the 2^nd round by maintaining his distance against Party Wolf and hitting him with Ivy’s pokes whenever the latter tries to get close. Party Wolf strike back hard during the 3^rd round showing some high level Kilik gameplay and almost perfected the match despite Saiyne activating his character’s Soul Charge. The 4^th round featured a Soul Charge match between the two. But with a missed Critical Edge attempt from Evil Kilik, Saiyne took advantage and slowly but surely pressured his opponent to even the set. With 2 full gauges, Party Wolf did not waste time to use it into a Soul Charge and after some decent hits against Saiyne, he countered his opponent’s attack with Evil Kilik’s devastating Critical Edge to win the set.

WUUUUUU!

Their second set happened in a no-walls stage. Considering this, Party Wolf continually hit Saiyne with Kilik’s 4A which although does little damage, stacked up into a lethal hit which gave him an RO win. In the 2^nd round, Saiyne took advantage of Ivy’s impenetrable christmas tree to slowly deplete his opponent’s health which led to his win after a good counter hit combo. Saiyne then started the 3^rd round with a devastating CS against Party Wolf. Although Party Wolf activated his Kilik’s SC to avoid pressure from Saiyne, the latter patiently took his distance and managed to hit the former with a lethal hit to win two straight. Saiyne was not done and continued the streak by hitting his opponent with three successful Calamity Symphonies. Set 1-1.

After being dominated in the previous round, Party Wolf then decided to return playing Seong Mi-Na, a character he used to slaughter Saiyne during their matches in DreamHack Atlanta for their final set. First round had been a good exchange of blows between the two. But after Party Wolf dropped a crucial combo, Saiyne took advantage and stole the win. Second round started to be in advantage of Party Wolf managing to get Saiyne to lower health, but with some SC pressure and timed dodges, Saiyne countered Party Wolf and again made a comeback win. Saiyne then ended the match in the final round and got his well-earned revenge against Party Wolf with another CS win with Enders J funnily claiming the said command grab a “projectile”.

“It’s a projectial” – EndersJ

After the hype-filled set between Party Wolf and Saiyne, another rematch was set to occur between RichSticks and Sandman, which had a long time rivalry starting from their Grand Finals match during Frosty Faustings XI which was pretty much dominated by Sandman’s many Azwel muscle busters. Considering that RichSticks had been practicing Azwel lately even using him once or twice, will he again lose to Sandman’s muscle buster?

Frosty Faustings XI GF Rematch – RichSticks (left) vs. Sandman (right)

Azwel’s Power displayed

Their first set started out to be a classic Azwel vs Maxi match-up. First round, RichSticks showed brilliant offensive display with his Maxi and dominated Sandman. Next round, RichSticks continued to pressure Sandman, but with a well-timed step, Sandman managed to hit RichStick with a launcher and took back the round. RichSticks then got an RO win of his own right at the start of the third match. In the 4^th round, Sandman changed his game to a more defensive gameplay avoiding all out match with RichSticks and slowly and steadily hit his opponent with Azwel’s pokes until he won the round. Sandman then continued this strategy which was so effective that he was able to hit RichSticks with Azwel’s powerful SC Critical Edge to grind out the set win.

Instead of using his own Azwel, RichSticks stayed with Maxi and boy, it was the best decision of the night. Immediately learning from their previous set, RichSticks dominated his opponent during the second set getting two straight RO wins and finishing the set with “another project” Critical Edge.

His Azwel convincingly defeated, Sandman played his other main Amy in order to match his opponent’s Maxi. Although putting more of a fight, Sandman could not stop RichSticks momentum. If not for a well-timed launch to RO his opponent, Sandman would have been swept by RichStickes. With some badass kick to his opponents face, RichSticks got through his rematch with Sandman and advanced to the next round.

Victory to RichSticks!

The Winner’s Finals

The winner’s finals showcased two of the most dominant players of the night and that is JJJ and defending ECT Champ Linkorz. This two then faced-off each against each other on who will advance to the Grand Finals.

First set was pretty much dominated by JJJ who took advantage of Amy’s faster but shorter attacks against Linkorz’s Siegfried. Finding no answer with his opponents rush pokes, Linkorz lost a surprising first set 0-3 against JJJ.

Flawless Display

In the second set, Linkorz tried to counter JJJ’s rush attacks with Reversal Edges and Siegfried’s superior range. Although still finding difficulties in finding openings between Amy’s attacks, he was able to clutch out the round. Linkorz then continued the same simple tactic in the next round to disrupt his opponent. With a win from a Reversal Edge battle, Linkorz dodged a counter from JJJ with Siegfried’s side-step chief hold and continued it with a hit to win two straight. Third round came in JJJ’s favor in which he needed to use a Soul Charge gauge to get a win. JJJ then got a two straight wins of his own when he managed to RO Linkorz during a combo. The final set was then a battle of Soul Charges between the two in which JJJ got out with a clutch win after he hit Linkorz with Amy’s 4AA.

JJJ sweeped Linkorz!

With a 0-2 deficit, Linkorz decided to pick Groh possibly to match his opponent’s offense. Even though Linkorz Put up more of a fight with Groh, JJJ was still clutched out the first round. During the second however, Linkorz’ Groh outpaced his Amy to even the set 1-1. The third round and fourth was an exchange of wins between the two. In the final round, JJJ still managed to whittle his opponent’s Health to half down despite the latter being in Groh’s SC form. To finally finish off his opponent, JJJ activated Amy’s SC and with a stab to Groh’s chets, swept the mighty Linkorz with peerless and flawless performance in order to reach the Grand Finals on the winner’s side.

Never make this man angry

Despite such a lopsided loss againt JJJ, Linkorz breathed out a sigh of “okay” possibly changing his gears and sense of urgency.

Meeting him in the loser’s finals is his friend and long-time east coast rival, Saiyne, who was literally an AXL dispatcher throughout the tournament after he convincingly defeated RichSticks during the loser’s semis.

With their many matches during NLBC and various majors, Linkorz was pretty much had all the knowledge and methods he needed to counter the match up against Saiyne’s Ivy. Using Siegfried in their match, Linkorz showed a near perfect display of gameplay to dominate his friend for the first two sets. Saiyne then made a strong comeback win to avoid a sweep. But with Linkorz lock and loaded in getting his second chance encounter against JJJ, he was unstoppable and ended their match in the fourth set, sweeping Saiyne and ending the match with a Siegfried Critical Edge.

Rematch

With more determination and focus, he meets JJJ again in the Grand Finals on the loser’s side. After picking their mains original colors in the Character Select, Linkorz’ Siegfried and JJJ’s Amy are ready for a throwdown to decide the tournament’s winner.

First set started out an exchange of wins between the two. However, during the next two rounds, Linkorz made some adjustments in his game. Using perfect spacing game to avoid and counter Amy’s fast but short moves and making perfect crouch and base hold counter to interrupt his opponent’s rush mix-ups, he dominated the said rounds.

Next set, Linkorz started the 1^st round strong with some major hits against his opponent. But after a reversal exchange, JJJ tipped the advantage in his favor and was able to pressure Linkorz with Amy’s continuous attacks. But with a combo drop, Linkorz took advantage and almost made an RO win. Although JJJ got away from an RO, Linkorz continued the pressure and ended the round with a critical edge punish. Linkorz continued the dominance in the next round not letting JJJ get away from the pressure and got an RO win. Despite having 2 full gauges, the overwhelmed JJJ decided to not use them and paid dearly when Linkorz used his character’s SC and dominated former to sweep the second set.

Water is broken

The third continued the same story. Linkorz started dominating the first two rounds with an RO win and dominating win, respectively. JJJ tried to fight back and got one back away in the third round. However, with Linkorz probably read his Amy pattern and mixups, he was again defeated in the third round. Thus, a Grand Finals reset happened.

With his back on the wall and finding no solution to beat his opponent, JJJ tried to think long and hard to counter his opponent’s adjustment. In the first set of the reset, JJJ adjusted his game playing more defensively and cautiously. This approach started close between the two evening the set to 1-1. However, Linkorz showed that it is not easy to beat him in his own game and took the next two rounds in convincing fashion in order to win the first set.

The 2^nd reset set started two rounds of close matches between the two with JJJ returning to being aggressive. However, despite his efforts, Linkorz clutched out the first two rounds with a Reversal Edge win and Dark Legacy win. JJJ then made a rare dominating win in the 3^rd round making good decisions to overwhelm his opponent with Amy’s pokes. A close fight again occurred in the final round, but with JJJ again making the same mistake of not using his any of gauges, he was pressured by Siegfried’s SC and was hit by his opponent’s aB SC Charged attack and loss.

The frustrated JJJ decided to continue the third set still with Amy. Despite looking like he’s about to give up and played randomly, JJJ started the first round dominating managing to lower his opponent’s health to a slither. However, with perfect timing, Linkorz managed to counter JJJ with Base Hold into a lethal hit in the edge of the stage and with a dropkick, stole the round in an RO win. JJJ’s randomness (probably due to him not giving care anymore) turned out very effective against Linkorz and with that got a dominant 2^nd round win. Third round, JJJ continued the pressure to Linkorz and looking like more alive. Despite this however, he was countered by Siefried’s lethal hit launcher and again unfortunately lost the round. In the 4^th round, Linkorz decided to end JJJ’s suffering with a Siegfried Critical Edge win.

You’re back to back ECT Champion – Linkorz!

With the win, Linkorz not only took vengeance against his worthy opponent but also defended his sit and was crowned East Coast Throwdown’s back-to-back Champion; ending the Grand Finals with a similar dominance he displayed a year before against Sonicfox’s Azwel.

Brackets links :

https://smash.gg/tournament/east-coast-throwdown-2019/events/soul-calibur-6/brackets

Video Stream Link:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/497185233

Credits to Tsb_Blaze for the stream!

Big congratulations to @linkorz_ for placing first, @JJJ_SC6 for placing second and @SaiyneSC for playing third.

You all put on a wonderful show and played your hearts at.

I love you all!

And of course @incendiate you did amazing and good job with ur X ❤️

— 🙁 | Dell @SoCal WNF (@dell24_) October 20, 2019

OMW home now. #ECT2019 was a lot of fun and would recommend for next year! Always a pleasure seeing old friends and making new ones♡! pic.twitter.com/d2hAbuygF5

— Happytoki (@happytoki94) October 20, 2019

Late post (just got home) but I won #ECT2019 for SC6! This marks the first time I’ve won the same SC6 tournament twice. It’s really amazing to me to see just how far this game has come and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.

— linkorz (@linkorz_) October 21, 2019