by TselellebKumite in Texas
Kumite in Texas is a three-day FGC event made by a known tournament organizer Kumite Gaming. This tournament will be held in Esports Stadium Arlinton located in Arlington, Texas, USA on September 13, 2019 and will end on September 15, 2019. One of the fighting game featured in here is SOULCALIBUR VI which received 51 entrants.
THE TOP 8 COMPETITORS
The top 8 players of the tournaments includes BDG | Bluegod, FSD | Rikuto, BxA | Xephukai and DF | Saiyne on the winners side and SoSickNASHFAN, EMP | KN | KDZ, Jonnitti and iZekuuu on the losers side. Based on the names alone, we could clearly see that BDG | Bluegod is the clear favorite to win the series considering his previous accomplishments in being a runner-up at EVO and winner Summer Jam 13 right? right? Well the other competitior won’t make it easy for him…
A SURPRISE RIGHT AWAY
Right at the first match of the top 8, an almost impossible thing to do already happened. RIKUTO DEFEATED BLUEGOD!
Just after upsetting Linkorz in Summer Jam 13 sending the latter to the loser’s bracket. Rikuto did the same difficult challenge again in this tournament against Bluegod himself, arguably the best and hottest Soulcalibur VI player so far in the region. However, such achievement did not come easy.
During their first match, Bluegod showed the dominance we are used to seeing him do by beating Rikuto 3-0. Based on how fast his first win came, its looking like another cakewalk for Bluegod right? Rikuto says otherwise.
During their second match, after Bluegod got another dominant win in the first round, Rikuto turned up his gear and started to play aggressively with more bullrushes and more grab attempts. This adjustment gave him an earned ring out in the second round.
Bluegod, showing how good he is, quickly adjusted and won a hard fought third round. In the fourth round, Rikuto’s switching between playing patient and playing aggressive got him his second win in the match after getting a good counter combo against Bluegod.
The final round was full of hype, with both competitors playing evenly with each other with Bluegod taking his distance and hitting his opponent with Weapon Arts when the fight gets to melee range and Rikuto playing patiently and hitting his enemy short but damaging combos, it came down to the last hit which happened to occur in Rikuto’s favor when he hit a well-timed Soul Charged bullrush to Bluegod.
Next is their final match.
The final part of the set
Bluegod did not waste time putting pressure against Rikuto with Azwel’s Axe mode attacks and managed to get two dominant wins. Next round, with Rikuto having a life lead, Bluegod made a critical mistake by wasting his two full gauges by trying to attempt Azwel’s Soul Charge Critical Edge which the former took advantage by not only cancelling the powerful CE attempt but also winning the round.
Despite having a gauge disadvantage, Bluegod’s pressuring attacks gave him a significant life lead against Rikuto in the fourth round where the latter was only one hit away from losing. But the Astaroth specialist won’t be easily outdone and managed to steal another victory by using clutch plays after clutch plays.
In the last round, despite receiving two Weapon Arts, a wallsplat, his opponent (a World calibur top player) having a life lead, in Soul Charge and his character’s Health meter is only one or two hits away from emptying, Rikuto did the impossible. Despite having no gauge, Rikuto pressured Bluegod by hitting him with properly timed attack and with a successful crouch grab (which unfortunately we did not see come to fruition due to Bluegod’s saltiness or extreme denial), he won the set. With the win, Rikuto made everyone think that he should be considered a top player in the region and arguably the best Astaroth player so far. Such a great first match.
XEPHUKAI’S THE RETURN?
Before SOULCALIBUR VI came, everyone knew that Xephukai is one of the best players of SOULCALIBUR V going against the likes of Keev, LoloMx, Ramon and so many other top players during that time. Based on this, many expected him to outright top and dominate the FGC when the latest entry of the franchise came out. However, his path had been rocky so far.
He had a strong start during the early days of the game’s release by getting to consistent top 8 places in various major tournaments and even being a runner-up in Kumite in Tennessee. However, after getting the placement in KiTenessee, his placings worsened in subsequent tournaments where he usually fails to reach top 8 in major tournaments and when he does, gets booted out early with him even admitting one time that he needs to take his time and enjoy the game to improve.
This mindset showed its results in this tournament.
After losing a close match against Saiyne which made him drop to the loser’s bracket, he swept KDZ in the next match without dropping a single round.
His next opponent was his most notable. He faced none other than Bluegod who just came through a hard set against Jonnitti. Despite facing a top calibur player in Bluegod, he did something that only a few could do, he won the match with a dominant sweep.
The crowd was on their feet when Xephukai defeated Bluegod
During their first match, Xephukai’s Sophitia stayed up close to Bluegod’s Azwel in every round. His pokes, reads and counters where all flawless. Azwel’s infamous weapon arts was not even effective to him. Due to this, he won the match in a dominant 3-0 win. Their second match, even if Bluegod managing to get two wins, was still convincingly won by Xephukai 3-2.
Even the King of Upsets Rikuto himself was not enough to stop Xephukai’s onslaught. During their three matches, all were convincingly in favor of Xephukai due to his knowledge in countering Astaroth’s attack using Sophitia’s fast movements and pokes. With his undefeated three set wins after losing in the winner’s semi finals, Xephukai is looking unstoppable in his rematch against Saiyne in the Grand Finals. But…
IN-SAIYNE FINISH!
Saiyne is playing with a different fire during the whole tournament
Days before the tournament, Saiyne was very vocal with his intention to make it a goal for himself to win the tournament. This fact was said many times by Solio when he managed to have a conversation with Saiyne. He did not dissapoint. All throughout the top 8, this fun and fashion loving individual was focused and was dead serious to win.
His first match-up was Xephukai. After dominating the first match, Xephukai fought back hard to even the set. However, Saiyne won’t risk putting himself to an disadvantage again and won their final match.
His next one was against Rikuto who just managed to upset Bluegod in the previous round, However, the Astaroth main could not stop Saiyne’s Ivy in reaching the Grand Finals. He won the set 3-0 in a convincing manner.
Meeting him again the Grand Finals was Xephukai who just had an undefeated streak against players like KDZ, Bluegod and Rikuto. But Saiyne was just on another level on that night and showed everyone that he is a top player in the country by beating the streaking Xephukai 3-0. His Ivy’s command grabs Calamity Symphony and Soul Suffering where all on point all throughout the set. Despite changing to Mi-Na, Xephukai still had no answer to Saiyne’s Ivy. And as such, Saiyne got his first SOULCALIBUR VI tournament trophy.
An early Christmas Gift for Saiyne
THE FINALS
This tournament had a full load of surprises. A great commentary and a lot of fun to watch. Now, with the SOULCALIBUR VI tournament scene in NA being largely dominated by Bluegod and Linkorz, will Xephukai and Saiyne’s performance in this tournament show a more competitive scene in the region? We’ll see.
credits to Esports Stadium Arlington and the competitors for some of the pics!
